Pollachi sexual assault case | Of rape, lies and video leaks

An previous farmhouse at Chinnappapalayam close to Pollachi, the epicentre of Tamil Nadu’s most up-to-date intercourse and abuse scandal, is abandoned. It belongs to K. Thirunavukkarasu, 28, of Makkinampatti, a budding financier, and it was the primary hangout of a bunch of children from Pollachi.

The investigation by the Pollachi city east police of a grievance filed by a 19-year-old lady on February 24, 2019, revealed that the remoted home was greater than a hangout. The subsequent day’s arrest of Thirunavukkarasu’s associates N. Rishwanth, 26, alias Sabarirajan of MGR Nagar; N. Sathish, 30, of Suleeswaranpatti; and T. Vasanthakumar, 25, of Pakkothipalayam turned out to be the tip of the iceberg.

The lady’s grievance stated Rishwanth known as her up round 12.30 p.m. on February 12, 2019, when she was in school and requested her to come back to the Unjavelampatti bus-stop to talk to her in particular person. Thirunavukkarasu and Rishwanth, whom she knew by means of a faculty buddy and later received acquainted with, had been ready in entrance of a bakery as she reached Unjavelampatti at 1 p.m. Thirunavukkarasu drove the automotive on Dharapuram Road, whereas Rishwanth and she sat behind. Soon, two extra individuals boarded the automotive, whom she later recognized as Sathish, who sat subsequent to Thirunavukkarasu, and Vasanthakumar, who sat beside Rishwanth.

As the lady pressed Rishwanth about what he needed to talk to her about, Thirunavukkarasu stopped the automotive on a mud highway close to the gate of a mill.

The grievance stated Rishwanth forcibly eliminated her higher clothes and Sathish filmed it along with his cell phone. The males instructed her that they’d the video of the incident and if she didn’t go along with them every time they summoned her, other than giving them cash once they requested for it, they’d launch the video. They held out the identical menace whereas asking her to not disclose the incident to anybody.

The males then snatched her one sovereign gold chain earlier than leaving her within the abandoned space. She narrated the incident to 2 males who got here to the place on a two-wheeler, and they organized an autorickshaw for her to succeed in school, stated the grievance.

The lady disclosed the ordeal to her dad and mom on February 24, after Rishwanth, Vasanthakumar and Sathish met her two to 3 occasions and demanded cash, her grievance stated.

The 4 males had been booked beneath Sections 354 A (sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment), 354 B (assault or use of legal pressure to girl with intent to disrobe), 392 (punishment for theft) of the IPC; Section 66 E (punishment for violation of privateness) of the Information Technology Act; and Section 4 (penalty for harassment of girls) of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman (TNPHW) Act. The police couldn’t hint Thirunavukkarasu then. In a twist to the case, a bunch of males allegedly assaulted the brother of the lady on February 26, reportedly to pressure him to withdraw his sister’s grievance. The similar day the police arrested T. Senthil, 33, P. Babu, 27, and K. Vasanthakumar, 20, all natives of Pollachi, in reference to the assault. The police arrested ‘Bar’ Nagaraj, an office-bearer of the AIADMK’s Amma Peravai for ward 34 in Pollachi, the subsequent day for his function within the assault. The get together expelled him on March 11.

On March 5, the police arrested K. Thirunavukkarasu, accused of heading the gang.

The threads start to unravel

Just a few movies of sexual assaults of girls, which had been allegedly shot within the farmhouse, had been leaked. In these movies, ladies had been seen begging for mercy from the perpetrators. The case then snowballed right into a scandal with experiences speculating that the gang might have sexually assaulted and blackmailed a number of girls.

Political events, college students’ federations, girls’s boards and political organisations began a collection of protests searching for justice for the victims and a good investigation into the scandal.

Things received murkier when the then Coimbatore Rural Superintendent of Police, R. Pandiarajan, disclosed the title of the complainant at a press convention in March.

“The disclosure of the name of the complainant by the Superintendent of Police, who is supposed to protect her identity, was a major setback. This could have discouraged other women from coming forward with complaints against the accused. This thwarted a good start to the investigation,” says A. Radhika of the All India Democratic Women’s Association, one of many organisations campaigning for justice.

With extra stress mounted on the police to unravel the varied threads, the State authorities transferred the investigation from the Coimbatore Rural Police to the CB-CID, even because the political events, together with the DMK, needed a CBI probe.

On March 25, 2019, R. Manivannan, 31, alias Mani, surrendered earlier than the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Coimbatore for his function within the assault on the lady’s brother. The CB-CID later named Manivannan because the fifth accused within the sexual assault case and arrested him.

CBI takes over investigation

“Following the arrest of Manivannan and in pursuance of various leaked videos examined, the CB-CID altered the FIR and invoked Section 376 (punishment for rape) against the five accused,” stated an official who was a part of the investigation.

While the CB-CID investigation was beneath means, the Central authorities ordered a CBI investigation into the 2 instances, on a request from the Tamil Nadu Home Department, by means of a authorities order on March 16. Subsequently, the CBI’s Special Crime Branch, Chennai, re-registered two FIRs, copies of that are with The Hindu, within the sexual assault case and the case of assault on the lady’s brother on April 26.

The company filed its first chargesheet in opposition to the 5 males within the sexual assault case on May 24, arraigning them for offences beneath Sections 354 A, 354 B, 376 and 392, learn with 34 (acts performed by a number of individuals in furtherance of widespread intention), of the IPC: Sections 66E and 67 (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene materials in digital type) of the IT Act; and Section 4 of the TNPHW Act.

After pursuing the case of alleged assault on the lady’s brother, the CBI submitted a report earlier than the Chief Judicial Magistrate court docket, searching for to shut the investigation.

“The court did not accept the CBI’s report. As the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s post is vacant, we will submit a petition raising objection to the CBI’s report,” stated S. Gopalakrishnan, counsel for the lady’s brother. “Though there was no visible progress in the case in 2020, the CBI has been doing its work, mainly to find out other victims and strengthen its case,” stated a supply aware about the investigation.

Meanwhile, the CBI obtained the court docket’s permission to gather the voice samples of the accused and topic them to a forensic evaluation to determine whether or not their voices matched with these heard in some leaked video clips of sexual assaults. The groundwork of the company yielded outcomes when three extra girls who had been allegedly sexually assaulted by the accused turned as much as give their statements earlier than a Justice of the Peace in December 2020.

The company arrested AIADMK Pollachi city college students’ wing secretary K. Arulanantham, 34, P. Babu alias ‘Bike’ Babu, 27, of Vadugapalayam, and Haron Paul, 29, of Achipatty, on January 5 this yr. Babu was additionally concerned within the case of assault on the brother of the primary complainant. Even because the Opposition events, led by the DMK, accused the federal government of defending the accused, the AIADMK expelled Arulanantham from the get together.

Political ramifications

With the Assembly election not far away, the three arrests, particularly that of Arulanantham, triggered a storm, with the Opposition events circulating his pictures with Ministers and prime AIADMK leaders in social media. This is the second time the identical case has stirred a storm and prompted questions of girls’s security within the State.

The AIADMK did not retain the Pollachi Lok Sabha constituency, shedding it to the DMK within the 2019 normal election. Commentators put the defeat all the way down to the impression of the case. With one more election approaching and campaigning heating up, they reckon that the case could once more impression the result within the area. “My government protects women like a bulwark,” Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami stated at a marketing campaign occasion close to Pollachi on Saturday, responding to the costs levelled in opposition to the get together. “The investigation and the trial should be conducted quickly. As demanded before, a detailed investigation should be conducted into the unnatural deaths and suicides of women in the Pollachi region. The quashing of the provisions of the Goondas Act invoked against the accused points to the government’s lethargic approach towards the case during the police and CB-CID investigation,” Ms. Radhika stated.

Given the necessity for cover of the identification of the survivor and the witnesses and the political repercussions of the case, the Mahila Court in Coimbatore has saved the paperwork associated to the case in its custody.

“We are happy with the progress of the inquiry. We hope the CBI will bring forth all those involved in the case,” the primary complainant’s brother stated, responding to the three current arrests. CBI sources and just a few officers who had been earlier a part of the investigation declined to remark.