The 12-year-old was abused by her relatives and was rescued by a child welfare panel The Madras High Court Bench here has helped a 12-year-old girl, subjected to physical abuse by her relatives and rescued by the Thanjavur District Child Welfare Committee, to reunite with her mother who had remarried after the death of her first husband. Disposing of a habeas corpus petition filed by the woman, S. Sathya, a Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and V.M. Velumani directed the District Child Welfare Officer Suganthavalli to relieve the girl from Annai Sathya Government Orphanage, where she had been lodged temporarily, and hand over her custody to the petitioner. Ms. Sathya, who married Velayutham after her husband Subramani died, had approached her relative Rakinai in Thanjavur and sought her help to get her daughter admitted in a school in Papanasam. Ms. Rakinai took the custody of the girl. She and her daughter Saranya allegedly abused the girl physically leading to registration of a criminal case against them. The Papanasam police had registered a First Information Report against Ms. Rakinai and her daughter under Section 323 (causing hurt voluntarily with dangerous weapons) of Indian Penal Code and Section 75 (punishment for cruelty to child) of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015 on the basis of a complaint lodged by the child welfare officer. The Child Welfare Officer also appeared before the court and told the judges that the girl had sustained injuries all over her body and hence she was immediately shifted to the government orphanage in order to protect her from being subjected to further abuse. After recording her submissions, the Division Bench directed the officer to hand over the custody of the child to the petitioner and also directed the school in Papanasam to issue Transfer Certificate and give back the original birth certificate and other relevant certificates of the child if the petitioner wanted to shift her to some other institution. Though the school was not a party to the petition, the judges directed the Registry to mark a copy of their order to the headmistress for proper follow up action. They also recorded the wish of the child to go along with her mother.

Stay updated with all the Latest Madurai headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.