A young woman cop from Kerala tracked down a man accused of raping a 13-year-old girl to Saudi Arabia and managed to bring him back to India last week, NDTV has reported. Merin Joseph is Kerala’s youngest ever district police chief at 29 years of age. Interpol had arrested Sunil Kumar who was then extradited to India by a team led by Joseph. Kumar is the first ever Kerala native to be extradited under the India-Saudi Arabia treaty.
In 2017, 39-year-old Sunil Kumar was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).
Employed as a mason in Saudi Arabia, Sunil Kumar was on a holiday in Kerala where he had befriended a man whose niece he had allegedly raped. The lid was blown off the crime when the girl, who committed suicide later, told her classmates of the rape.
As per Kerala police, Interpol agents arrested Sunil Kumar in Riyadh six months ago after a Red Corner notice was issued in 2017. So far, no chargesheet has been filed in the case.
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Joseph said that Kerala police has made sure that people get the message that people know that they cannot get away with a crime by going abroad. She also revealed that while in Saudi Arabia, she wore ‘abaya (robe-like dress)’ and ‘purdah (head-covering)’ and had no problem in following the rules of a foreign country.
Earlier in July, another rape accused was extradited from Abu Dhabi in the UAE and was charged under the POCSO. In 2019 so far, there have been five extraditions to India in which two accused had been booked under POCSO says the NDTV report which quoted S Sreejith, Inspector General, Crime Branch.
Interpol has issued over 20 Red Corner notices for fugitives wanted by Kerala Police in the last 12 months. Again, a total of three cases fall under POCSO and are rape-related.
As per the IG, earlier it took six months to three years to get evidence on record but now with Mutual Legal Assessment Treaties it is easier.