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BJP office bearer in Madurai held for sexually assaulting girl
The accused in Madurai has been identified as MS Shah, who is an office bearer in Tamil Nadu's BJP unit
In two separate cases, a Tamil Nadu BJP office bearer was arrested on Monday under the Protection of Children from sexual offences (Pocso) Act in Madurai district while another man was arrested in Chennai’s Kilpauk government hospital for sexually harassing a 50-year-old woman who was an in-patient.
The accused in Madurai has been identified as MS Shah, who is an office bearer in the state’s BJP unit. He was booked under sections 11(1) (using words, showing pornography and exposing the child’s body), 11(4) (sexual assault) and 12 (sexual harassment) of the Pocso Act, police said.
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Armed with a direction from Madurai’s magistrate, the father of the child had filed a police complaint with the Madurai South women’s police station that his wife and Shah were known to one another and he found sexual chats from him on his daughter’s phone. Police did not wish to say when the FIR was registered.
“The father travelled frequently for his business across India and his wife and Shah had befriended each other and in the last couple of years, they took his daughter out with them,” said a police officer not wishing to be named.
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“The father has complained that during these times, the accused has allegedly sexually assaulted his daughter and sent her sexual messages and promised to buy her a bike, a car.”
The special court in Madurai seized the phones of the perpetrator and the survivor for evidence and following a report last year confirming sexual chats, the police arrested the accused on Monday.
Meanwhile, in Chennai, police arrested Sathish Kumar, a man from Ranipet district, who allegedly sexually harassed a 50-year-old woman patient at Kilpauk Government Hospital on Sunday night.
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“He was in the city looking for a job and entered the hospital intoxicated,” said a police officer not wishing to be named. Police are yet to frame charges in this crime.
