Pollachi Sexual Abuse Case: Petition Filed in Supreme Court to Monitor CBI Probe, Protect Identity of Victims

Chennai, March 15: A day after the Tamil Nadu Home Department revealed the name of the Pollachi sexual abuse victim, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Friday seeking direction to monitor the ongoing CBI investigation and to protect the identity of victims. In the plea, the petitioner also sought directions from the apex court that trial of all the cases be transferred outside the State of Tamil Nadu.

Along with this, the petitioner in his plea to the Supreme Court had requested the bench to direct the State Director General of Police to initiate a departmental enquiry against Coimbatore Rural Superintendent of police – R Pandiarajan – for revealing the identity of the victim. Earlier on Thursday, the Tamil Nadu Home Department has revealed the name of the Pollachi sexual abuse victim. Pollachi Sexual Abuse Case: Tamil Nadu Government Reveals Identity of Victim. 

The state department in its order, which is being circulated in the social media, had even mentioned the name of the college she is studying in, and identifies her brother who gave a complaint to the Pollachi East Police Station.

It is to be known that under the Indian law, media organisations and law enforcement agencies are not allowed to reveal the identity of rape victims, especially in offences under specifically offences committed under Sections 376, 376A, 376B, 376C or 376D of the IPC (rape, and other sexual assault offences). Along with it, no organisation can make the FIRS in these cases public. The order was passed by the Supreme Court in December 2018, barring revealing the names of sexual assault survivors on social media platforms of in any protest rallies, even if they are dead. Pollachi Sexual Abuse Case: Booked MK Stalin’s Son-in-Law Sabareesan Shoots Legal Notice, Demands Unconditional Apology.

In this case, FIR has been listed under 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (assault or use of criminal force against a woman with intent to disrobe) of the IPC. Since there is no confidentiality provision in this section, so the government may get a shield regarding this, while Indian courts had asked authorities not to mention the names of the victims.

With the issue gaining political momentum in the state, Chennai Police Crime Branch on Thursday registered an FIR against DMK president MK Stalin’s son-in-law Sabareesan. On the other side, DMK MP Kanimozhi, slammed the government and police for revealing the identity of the survivor in the Pollachi sexual abuse case. Pollachi Sexual Abuse Case: Chennai Police Files FIR Against DMK President MK Stalin’s Son-in-Law Sabareesan. 

As per to the case, a 19-year-old woman had alleged that unidentified men in Pollachi town of the district recently took her in a car and attempted to disrobe her and videographed it. With the woman refused to yield to their advances, the men started blackmailing her with the video. They later threw her out of the vehicle after snatching her gold chain.

Investigating the case, police arrested a gang of four members – Thirunavukkarasu, Sabarirajan alias Rishwant, Satish and Vasanth Kumar – for sexually abusing the woman near Pollachi. As the investigation proceeded, police now suspect that these men abused more than 50 women for over a period of more than seven years. The gang also allegedly recorded videos of the sexual acts and blackmailed the victims into extorting money.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 15, 2019 03:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).