: Expressing concern over the recent rape of an 8-year-old Malayali girl in Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today said the state government was ready to bear her medical expenses.
Former Chief Minister and Marxist stalwart V S Achuthanandan urged the government to bring the hapless girl, admitted to a government hospital, to Kerala and arrange for her further treatment and recuperation.
"We are ready to bear the expenses of the girl's treatment. I will be keeping in touch with Tamil Nadu authorities," Chandy told reporters here.
Achuthanandan, opposition leader in the state assembly, asked the Chief Minister to make arrangements for bringing the girl back to Kerala for treatment. He said he had spoken to the parents of the victim over phone.
The girl, whose mother is working in a knitwear unit in the hosiery town of Tiripur, was admitted to hospital in a serious condition after she was raped by a 23-year old man, under the influence of liquor, when her parents were away on April 12. She is reported to be stable now.
Police arrested the culprit and three of his friends, who had threatened the girl's mother not to complain to police about the incident. All the four were working in a knitwear factory.
The public in the area had staged a protest seeking speedy justice to the girl and demanded that she be shifted to a private hospital.
