Andhra Boy, 6, Tells Father On Video Of Alleged Sex Assault By 'Friends'

Hyderabad:

A six-year-old boy was allegedly sexually abused by two others, older than him, over two months during his summer vacation in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore district. The accused have been detained after the child's father reported the incident to the police, with a video of his son narrating his ordeal.

Akash's (name changed) nightmare began during his school break in April. His father said he used to leave for work by 8 in the morning and returned late in the evening. His mother was busy looking after his baby brother. That's when the accused, cousins who lived on the floor just below Akash's, would invite him to 'play' with them, his father alleged. His mother was happy Akash had found company, the child's father said.

But soon after, Akash's parents noticed changes in his behaviour. He would lose his temper if his mother scolded him, and sometimes throw plates at home.

"He was such a gentle, lively, loving child. He wouldn't want me to go office, come near the scooter to say bye every day and when I came home, he would come running to me with his stories. All that suddenly changed. He didn't want to talk or interact. I noticed the change and got worried," the father told NDTV.

The father said he was convinced something was bothering his son. But the child did not open up to him. "After many days, one night I kept asking him, pleading with him, saying he should tell daddy, as I am his best friend," the father said.

The child broke down, hugged him tight and told him the two boys who he played with "did all sorts of things with him, repeatedly, whenever they got a chance". The father realised his son had been subjected to repeated sexual abuse and rape. The two cousins allegedly physically abused the child and threatened to harm him and his family if he revealed what they did to him. So traumatised was the child that he told his father that he was unable to sleep properly at night and got nightmares.

The six-year-old lived through the trauma for over two months.

The father reported the matter to the Nellore police and showed the police chief a video of the child narrating to his him how he was sexually abused by the older boys. 

"My son asked why I am recording... I didn't want my son to live through this again by recounting. So I said, don't worry. Daddy just wants to record it," the father, a marketing executive, told NDTV.

The two boys will be presented before a juvenile court today. Their grandmother, a retired government employee, told Akashs's father, "Boys will do these things. What is there to report to police?"

"The older boy's father approached me. 'If you can forgive anyone who does this to your child, I will too,' I told him," Akash's father said.