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Dalit woman’s rape case to be transferred to CB-CID, says Stalin
The case of the rape and blackmail of a 22-year-old Dalit woman in Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar -- in which eight people are accused -- will be transferred to the CB-CID, chief minister M K Stalin said on Wednesday.
The case of the rape and blackmail of a 22-year-old Dalit woman in Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar -- in which eight people are accused -- will be transferred to the CB-CID, chief minister M K Stalin said on Wednesday.
“Police will file a charge sheet within 60 days and maximum punishment will be awarded to the culprits,” said the chief minister in the state assembly.
The news comes a day after the ruling DMK suspended a party member, Junaid Ahmed, who is one of the eight accused. Among the eight, four are minor boys, studying in school. They have been charged with rape, filming the crime and threatening to leak the videos.
Assuring a speedy trial, the CM said that the case will be taken to a separate court. “Superintendent of police (SP) Mutharasi has been appointed as special officer,” Stalin said, adding, he has instructed director-general of police (DGP) Sylendra Babu to directly monitor the case.
Responding to Opposition leader Edappadi K Palaniswami’s charge that crimes against women have gone up since the DMK formed the government last May, the CM said, “This case will be a model for India,” adding, “We will not handle it like the Pollachi case.” Later, Palaniswami led a walkout of the AIADMK accusing the DMK of abandoning welfare schemes introduced by former chief minister J Jayalalithaa.
The Virudhunagar crime is eerily similar to the infamous 2019 Pollachi case where young women who were befriended by a group of men on social media, were allegedly sexually assaulted in cars and in abandoned houses and filmed. The women were threatened that the videos would be leaked. Several AIADMK functionaries were named in the case, which is still under invesigation.
The Dalit woman had filed a complaint with Virudhunagar rural police on Sunday, after which four men and four boys were held for the crime.
Police said the victim had befriended main accused Hariharan, 27, last year. He was in a relationship with the victim and had promised to marry her.
He allegedly filmed their private moments and shared them with the other accused. The others then used the videos to blackmail the victim and rape her for several months since last year. “The first time may be it was a consensual sexual relationship, but what happened after that was torture,” said a police official asking not to be named.
