Pollachi sexual assault: HC orders notice on plea seeking court-monitored probe

The first bench of Chief Justice V K Tahilramani and Justice M Duraiswamy, before whom the plea moved by Advocate P Pugalendhi came up for hearing, ordered notice returnable by April 10.

The plea sought for a court-monitored probe, citing the allegedly careless manner in which the State Police and government revealed the victim’s name and her college. This has effectively prevented other victims in the case from approaching the police, the petitioner said. 

Noting that the State has transferred the case the CB-CID and then to the CBI on the basis that the ‘nature of the crime is extremely serious’ and the cases require ‘more laborious and dedicated investigation with technical expertise’, Pugalendhi contended that the investigation ought to be court-monitored.

During the hearing, however, Chief Justice Tahilramani who had refused to entertain the plea raised by women advocates seeking to take suo motu cognisance of the issue and order for a court monitored probe, sought to know why the court should intervene when a CBI probe has already been ordered by the State on the issue.

To this, advocate M Radhakrishnan appearing for the petitioner contended that a court monitored probe would speed up the investigation process. Moreover, the sexual assault suffered by many young girls was yet to be detected and the persons who have committed such barbaric acts were yet to be brought to book, he added.

In February this year, news broke about a gang which has political connections in Pollachi and Coimbatore had blackmailed and raped hundreds of women, including college students. As per reports, the gang would contact the women using fake social media accounts and lure them into meetings, where the women were allegedly sexually molested and recorded on camera. The video recordings were then used to further blackmail them.

The racket came to light after the brother of a victim lodged police complaint on behalf of his sister. The case assumed political overtones after the brother was reportedly attacked by a group of persons for having lodged the complaint. The attackers included a youth wing member of the ruling AIADMK, who was expelled from the party.