All of five and scarred for life -- that's the fate of a migrant labourer's 5-year-old daughter. On Sunday morning, he found her lying badly bruised in a mango grove near a construction site along Chennai's IT corridor.
"Turned away at Chettinad Hospital, we brought her to the Baby Hospital," said R Mohan, the victim's father.
The Supreme Court guideline is clear: Medical attention first and legal formalities and payments later. Although the 5-year-old rape victim was profusely bleeding and her life was in danger, a corporate super specialty hospital refused to admit her. She was tossed around and finally landed at the Government Children's Hospital, almost an hour and a half away.
The insensitivity is just one part of the story. Activists say both the police and medical staff are ill-equipped to handle child rape cases. For instance, a much publicised rape kit -- a manual to collect medical evidence -- is seldom used. Despite several representations, child rape victims are not administered anesthesia before clinical examination. And police officials are not trained to sensitively examine victims.
"I know of child rape victims who are examined in labour wards of maternity hospitals. They are certainly not pleasant places," said Vidya Reddy, director, TULIR.
The Kelambakkam Police has made no arrests so far. Officials claim to have collected DNA swabs from the victim and are in the process of matching samples with those of a few suspects.
"There are about 3000 workers there. We are interrogating one by one," said B Balachandran, the investigating officer.
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