Court pulls up Tamil Nadu govt for revealing Pollachi sexual abuse victim’s identity

The Madras high court rebuked the Tamil Nadu government and Coimbatore police on Friday for revealing the identity of a sex abuse survivor in the town of Pollachi.

The Madras high court rebuked the Tamil Nadu government and Coimbatore police on Friday for revealing the identity of a sex abuse survivor in the town of Pollachi, the centre of an unfolding sex scandal that has rocked the state, and awarded her Rs.25 lakh in compensation.

Members of various Tamil organisations hold placards and raise slogans during a protest against the Pollachi sex scandal in Chennai, Friday. (PTI)

The court also directed the state administration to withdraw a government order(GO) transferring the probe of the scandal to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and replace it with a fresh GO. The document had named the woman and her brother.

Justices N Kirubakaran and M Sundar of the Madurai bench of the high court, came down hard on the state government and Coimbatore police, wondering how the GO could have been issued in such a cavalier manner, in violation of a Supreme Court order on the December 16, 2012 gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The bench ordered that the survivor be provided expert counselling in a place outside Coimbatore district and without any publicity being given to it.