A Cuddalore man who has three girl children was arrested after he 'married' and raped a 16-year-old reportedly with the knowledge and support of his wife. The wife also longed for a male child, it was said.

According to the case registered at the Virudhachalam All Women Police Station, R Ashok Kumar (35) and wife Chellakkili were daily wage labourers. They had gotten married 10 years ago and they had three girl children. The victim girl, who had dropped out of school after class 10, was working at an industrial unit in Tiruchy and had become friends with the man when she came home for holidays. R Ashok Kumar allegedly developed a friendship with the girl, giving her gifts every time she came to the village. He later proposed that she marry him and promised to give her and her family a comfortable life in return. His wife also was in support of this plan, allegedly as both of them longed for a boy child.

It was said that the girl responded positively to this offer. She did not discuss the matter with her family, and had stopped going to work after Diwali. On November 7, Chellakkili talked to the girl's parents, convincing them to send the child with her and her husband to a temple in the nearby village. They agreed, suspecting nothing. When they did not return by nightfall, they called Chellakkili, but the woman responded evasively to their questions. According to sources, the couple had taken the girl to the village in the neighbouring temple where Ashok Kumar 'married' the girl. They then took her to a relative's house where he raped the girl. The girl's family tried to talk the couple into sending her back, failing which they filed a complaint on November 9. The police tracked the couple down to a relative's house and rescued the girl on the same day. Ashok Kumar and Chellakkili, who tried to escape into a sugarcane field, were arrested and booked under IPC sections 366A and 294B; provisions of Child Sexual Offenses Protection Act, 2012, and sections 9 and 10 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.