On Sunday, 14 July, Kollam Police Commissioner Merin Joseph IPS and her team left to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Merin was unsure of the procedures that would follow once she landed in Riyadh, but one thing she was sure of, she would return to India with Sunil Kumar Bhadran (38) – a man wanted in a child rape case.
Sunil Kumar, a native of Kollam, was a tile worker in Saudi Arabia. In 2017, while he was holidaying in Kerala, he sexually assaulted his friend’s niece for three months.
The 13-year-old girl, who belonged to a scheduled caste community, was devastated and finally revealed her ordeal to her family. By the time the police issued a look out notice, Sunil had fled to Saudi Arabia.
The girl was later moved to Government Mahila Mandiram rescue home at Karicode in Kollam district. However, she killed herself in June 2017. Before this, the victim’s paternal uncle who had introduced Sunil Kumar to the family had also killed himself.