Groping charge against Sub Inspector

According to the complainants, the incident took place at Mambakkam signal where a large group of men and women belonging to DYFI and CPM staged a demonstration against demonetisation on December 31. Alleging that the protest was creating a traffic block, police personnel from Pallikaranai station came to the spot and tried to stop the protest. 

“The policemen began touching and pushing the women and also used inappropriate words against them. During the melee, two women were groped by Sub Inspector Ravi,” said Sudha Gandhi of Manithi. The complainants claimed that videos of the policemen manhandling the protesters were uploaded on You-tube, however, unknown persons deleted the original video from the web. 

When the incident of sexual harassment during the protest came to light, party members began raising slogans against the police. However, the officials continued to beat us. Sudha said that the policemen threatened to book the women for prostitution. 

“When we questioned the policemen as to why they were misbehaving, they replied that ‘It is what happens when you come for protests’. Even the women police from the station passed comments against the women protesters regarding the clothes they were wearing,” Sudha said.   

The two women, who were reportedly groped, filed a complaint at the Commissioner’s office soon after the incident, however, no action was taken. The members of Manithi then met Parvesh Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Kilpauk, who told them that an inquiry into the issue would be completed in three days. Speaking to DTNext, Govindaraj, Assistant Commissioner, Madipakkam, under whose jurisdiction the protest took place, said that none of the videos showed SI Ravi misbehaving. 

“The version of the protesters are baseless allegations and far from truth. The protesters turned uncontrollable and tried to burn effigies. They even damaged police vehicles. They know they could face charges for it and are now fabricating facts,” he said. Further probe is on.