TN cracks down on crimes against women, children

Chennai There has been a crackdown on sexual crimes against women and children and a spate of arrests recently in Tamil Nadu, which DMK leaders say have been done on a direction from chief minister MK Stalin’s office, citing the party’s election manifesto that focussed on women’s safety wellbeing

Chennai

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There has been a crackdown on sexual crimes against women and children and a spate of arrests recently in Tamil Nadu, which DMK leaders say have been done on a direction from chief minister MK Stalin’s office, citing the party’s election manifesto that focussed on women’s safety wellbeing. Political observers see the actions as an attempt to improve the DMK’s image for long-term political gains.

The string of arrests began when a few school students and alumni began to share their trauma of being sexually abused by commerce teacher G Rajagopalan of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan (PSBB) school. His immediate arrest and the school education department swinging into action helped in building confidence among survivors, and it snowballed into a crackdown on institutionalised child sexual abuse with complaints pouring in from across the state.

On Friday, Chennai police invoked the Goondas Act against Rajagopalan to detain him for a year. For offences in cybercrime, the police also invoked the Goondas Act against prominent social media person Kishore K Swamy, who was arrested last week on a complaint filed by DMK’s IT wing for his defamatory posts against former chief ministers CN Annadurai and M Karunanidhi. He has been arrested previously including last year on charges of harassing women journalists and politicians, by targeting them on social media. He was out on bail.

A day ago, one of Chennai police’s own personnel, a sub-inspector attached to the city’s Madhavaram police station, was arrested under Pocso Act after a girl Whatsapped her complaint directly to the Chennai police commissioner Shankar Jiwal against the accused for abusing her. Her mother was also arrested as an abettor.

A few days ago, police arrested self-styled religious guru Siva Sankar Baba who is among half a dozen of teachers and coaches arrested on complaints of child sexual abuse made by school students and alumni. Former AIADMK minister for information and technology M Manikandan has been arrested on several charges, including rape, filed by a Tamil woman who is of Malaysian nationality. A popular Youtuber and gamer, Madan Kumar, was arrested after the cybercrime wing received more than a 100 complaints against his YouTube channel where he uploaded a banned game, PubG. It was accompanied by live commentary where he either verbally abused women players or made derogatory comments against women with other male players. His channel had more than 700,00 subscribers, including minors.

Police have been swiftly acting against complaints even if they are made on social media and pursuing the victims to file a police complaint, so that an FIR can be registered to investigate the case against perpetrators. “Usually these accused come out on bail in 10 days. We are giving special attention to that, strengthening evidence and keeping these people away from the society,” said Jiwal. “We are fast-tracking these cases because it is not like a crime of passion. It’s almost like an organised crime where the victim is left with a lot of psychological scars. Even if we get multiple complaints against a single person, none are discouraged.”

Two cases including that of Sankar Baba, the founder of Sushil Hari International School, have been transferred to the CB-CID. Investigating police officers of the crimes against women and children wing and the CB-CID have made their phone numbers public to help survivors file complaints by protecting their identity.

“He (Stalin) has given a free hand to the police authorities to act on complaints of crimes against women and children and he is personally following it,” said a DMK leader not wishing to be named. “He doesn’t want any delays in taking action. The law enforcement has to take its own course, but he has asked for action to be taken against those who are stalling complainants also. He is personally following up on these cases.”

Governor Banwarilal Purohit in his customary address during the 16th legislative assembly on Monday said that the DMK government will launch special initiatives to address all aspects of women’s wellbeing, development and empowerment. “Safety of women from harassment in the workplace, protection against cybercrime and prevention of domestic violence will be prioritised,” the Governor said. “To encourage greater work participation by women, working women’s hostels will be established in every district.”

The DMK says that they are planning a legislation to strengthen existing laws on this issue but did not give more details at this stage. “The chief minister is very serious about this. We want to put a stop to this issue,” said DMK MP and spokesperson TKS Elangovan. “Nobody has the authority to insult, degrade another human being. The government will not be a mute spectator to this. The issue is prevalent in all sections, including at the higher officials and ministers level, which is bad for the society.”

In the election manifesto, the DMK had announced a slew of welfare and development-related schemes for women, which included introducing special cybercrime police stations to investigate crimes against women. “Cyber police stations will be set up in all districts with technically qualified, trained employees to address the increasing prevalence of cybercrimes against women and children,” the manifesto read.

On Monday, the government also released guidelines for ‘students’ safety & protection from sexual violence & protocol for online classes’ applicable to all schools belonging to all educational boards in Tamil Nadu. It includes measures, such as the school education department to set up a state-level “central complaint centre” to offer an alternative complaint mechanism and provide guidance so that all complaints received are addressed appropriately.

Political observers say that through this issue, the DMK is reinventing its image. “The DMK is working to be in power for the next 10 years, much like how it was when Narendra Modi was elected in 2014,” said Ramu Manivanan, head of the political science and public administration department, University of Madras. “This is crucial for the DMK to draw the trust of the women vote bank which was cultivated by the AIADMK’s founder M G Ramachandran and his successor J Jayalalithaa.”

In the immediate scenario it could help in the local body elections that will be conducted soon for which the DMK held a meeting Friday with their district secretaries as well as with its long-term vision, he said.

DMK’s Elangovan, however, said that the party has always supported women. “When Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) was the chief minister, DMK was the first to bring in a legislation that women should have a share in the ancestral property,” he said. “We formed the women self-help groups, we brought in the legislation that 30% of government jobs go to women and we ensured financial empowerment so that they don’t have to be dependent on a man. Until 1976, when education was in the state list before Indira Gandhi amended it to be on the concurrent list, Kalaignar had made education free for women up to postgraduation.”

Activists have welcomed DMK’s increased attention to these issues but often point out to selective action as the party continues to be closely associated with Tamil cinema lyricist Vairamuthu who has been accused of sexual harassment by a dozen women. No police complaint has been filed in his case although singer Chinmayi Sripaada registered a complaint with the National Council for Women. In May, after social media backlash against Vairamuthu being conferred the ONV Literary award and against Stalin for congratulating him, the lyricst returned his award.

“A commitment to gender equality begins at home,” said Swarna Rajagopalan, political scientist and founder of gender rights-based advocacy group, The Prajnya Trust. “It is a good thing that the government is showing seriousness of intent in following up on specific abuse charges, and also in setting up systems for prevention. A publicly stated commitment is always a welcome point of departure,” said Rajagopalan.

“However, this commitment should be demonstrated by the party distancing itself from alleged abusers within its ranks and allies, whether those who are facing harassment allegations or those who have made misogynistic speeches. As suggested by the Prajnya Gender Equality Election Checklist, they should not be nominated or supported again.”