CHENNAI: In a shocking incident, a 41-year-old man, working as a welder in an industrial unit at Vellore, Tamil Nadu was arrested for raping and impregnating his 13-year-old daughter, police said on Thursday.

The man and his wife had reportedly separated 8 years ago and his children (a boy and a daughter) had been living with him and his parents in Adukkambarai, Vellore.

The Class VIII student, 13, was admitted to the Government Vellore Medical College Hospital, where she gave birth to a child, said the police. The girl admitted to being abused by her father since November 2021 when hospital staff questioned her.

The hospital staff quickly alerted the police, who detained the man and questioned him until he confessed to the crime. A case was filed under the IPC's Section 376 (rape) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Abuses (Pocso) Act's Section 5 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault).

He was taken into prison on Wednesday and brought before a Pocso court, where he was detained.

Dr. Sulekha Beagum, a psychologist and former professor of psychology at a government medical college in Tamil Nadu, said: "This is an expensive crime. It is unacceptable for a protector to become predator, and the police should make sure the worst penalty is meted out to him. He might be acting in this way because of some misguided ideas he has about sex."

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