Disabled minor girl raped at a place of worship in Nellore; accused caught by locals

A minor girl with a disability was allegedly raped at a place of worship in Nellore city on Sunday, October 4, the police said. The accused has been identified as Jashua, a worker who came to the place of worship regularly to clean the bathrooms. According to sources, on finding the girl alone on Sunday afternoon, he took her to the roof of the building and sexually assaulted her. Because of her disability, the girl could not seek help. When he tried to leave, local residents caught him and beat him severely. The accused has since been arrested. The case has drawn the attention of the Andhra Pradesh State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, which has asked officials to ensure the girl gets proper care — medical, psychological and legal. A child who could not cry for help was attacked in a place meant to offer refuge. The case exposes how thin safeguarding is at the institutions where children should be safest — a cleaning worker with routine access, an unsupervised roof, and nobody watching. Child welfare activists are demanding a fast-tracked trial under the POCSO Act and full rehabilitation for the survivor. The police say the investigation is ongoing. According to the report's summary, local residents caught the accused after a call to the 112 emergency helpline — a reminder that rapid community response still matters in the minutes that decide such cases. The setting compounds the crime. A place of worship draws families precisely because it is trusted; a worker with routine access to its premises is trusted too. When that trust is weaponised against a child who cannot seek help, the failure is not only the accused's — it is the failure of every adult and institution that assumed safety without building it. Andhra Pradesh's child protection machinery now has a clear test in front of it. The State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has intervened early, asking officials to guarantee the survivor's care. What follows must be equally deliberate: a POCSO trial that does not drag, counselling and medical support for the girl, and an audit of safeguarding at the institution where it happened. Crimes against children with disabilities are among the least reported and the hardest to prosecute, because the victim often cannot testify in the usual ways. That makes the state's duty heavier, not lighter. Nellore's response to this case will show whether that duty is understood.