Malappuram: A former panchayat president was arrested Sunday for allegedly assaulting a 10-year-old girl rag-picker near here, police said.

C Raghavan, formerly chief of Vattamkulam panchayat, thrashed the girl for picking rags and scrap metal on his property, the police said.

The girl suffered head injuries after Raghavan grabbed her sack and attacked her, an investigating official told PTI.

"He (Raghavan) hit me with the sack containing metal pieces," the girl told reporters.

A case has been registered against the accused, police said.

Opposition leader in the Kerala assembly Ramesh Chennithala, who met the victim at the hospital, told reporters that the state government was not doing anything for the safety of women and children.