Kerala horror: 70-year-old woman raped during robbery, burglar blinded her with chilly powder

In another distressing incident of sexual assault on women, a 70-year-old woman was allegedly raped in Kerala’s Alappuzha district during an attempted robbery at her house on Saturday night (Aug 24).

A 29-year-old man named Dhanesh is alleged to have stolen around seven sovereignsof gold from the elderly woman and was caught while trying to sell the ornaments. The police have arrested the man from Kanakakunnu in connection with Saturday’s incident.

According to the police, after the man got to know about the elderly woman living alone in the house, he tried to target her. The 70-year-old victim was raped after the accused threw chilli powder and threw the old lady off balance.

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"He left after locking the door from outside. He also took her mobile phone. She was unable to contact others. The neighbours found her this morning and took her to the hospital and informed us," police said.

A case has been registered against the accused under relevant sections of the law, police said. Further investigation into the case is also underway.

This is the second such case of rape that has made headlines after the Kolkata rape-murder case of a government hospital resident doctor. Once again, the chilling details of the case have jolted the country, especially the young population against the rising crime against women.

Meanwhile, the Hema committee report on sexual abuse of female actors in the Malayalam movie industry has rocked the southern state of Kerala. The disgusting findings in the report, which aims at widespread sexual abuse of women by industry bigwigs, have been increasing pressure on the Kerala government to take action.

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On Saturday, the LDF government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by a team of women IPS officers to probe widespread accusations of sexual abuse that have surfaced in mainstream and social media. The government had to back down from its earlier position that the lack of a specific complaint was holding back prosecution.

Actor Siddique quit as the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) following allegations of sexual assault by a young female actor. Kerala State Chalachitra Academy Chairperson Ranjith submitted his resignation after Bengali actor Sreelekha Mitra accused him of inappropriate behaviour during a project discussion.

(With inputs from agencies)