Perpetrators involved in the rape of the 22-year Dalit woman were arrested, eight were held while the case was transferred to CB-CID.
The eight people involved in the rape and sexual harassment of a 22-year-old Dalit woman were arrested on Monday, 21st March 2022. The case has now been handed over to CB-CID where further investigation is underway.
The FIR was filed on Sunday, 20th March 2022 through the women’s helpline number 181. The perpetrators also involved minor school going students.
The victim was identified as a 22-year-old Dalit woman. She belonged to the Virudhu Nagar region of Tamil Nadu. The woman met the accused through a social media platform. The accused who identified as Hariharan Alias Saravanan interacted with the woman from Tamil Nadu.
Over time, they got close to each other. The interactions were followed by physical involvement with each other. Hariharan secretly recorded the sexual activities that took between the both of them.
Later, he shared the video with a man who identified as S Junaith. The latter additionally shared Praveen, who was his driver and four others who were school going students. The men involved collaboratively planned on blackmailing the woman.
They threatened her with the claim that they will expose her private material online if she doesn’t submit to their demands.
The woman faced nearly seven to eight months of sexual harassment and assault. She later decided to file a complaint against the perpetrators involved. The complaint was finally filed on Sunday, 20th March 2022.
It was filed through the number 181 provided as a means for women’s helpline. The complaint stated that the victim was raped for almost eight months from August 2021 to March 2022.
The complaint was taken up by the rural police of Virudhunagar. “She decided to contact women’s helpline number 181 and reported it. The case was then taken up by the Virudhunagar Rural police”, said the police.
She had allegedly also asked Madaswamy, a 37-year-old man who was her neighbour to assist her with the issue. It was found out that the latter also blackmailed and raped her.
The police arrested eight people including five men inclusive of DMK functionaries and two minors.
The detainee identified as Hariharan, Madaswamy, Praveen, Junaith Ahmed, another eighteen years old and two minors. The minors involved and seventeen and a fifteen-year-old. The authorities are still investigating the case and running a background check on the eight held.
The perpetrators have been held under sections 376(2)(n) (rape), 354(c) (voyeurism), 354(D) (stalking) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), read with 66(e) (violation of privacy) of Information Technology (IT) Act and 3(1)(w)(1) (punishment for offences atrocities), 3(2)(v) (punishment for offences atrocities) of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) (SC/ST (POA)) Act.
The case resembled the three to the four-year-old registered crime that took place in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu. The issue involved the sexual harassment and assault of a nineteen-year-old girl from Tamil Nadu.
The assault took place at a deserted farmhouse located in Chinnappapalayam. It belonged to a 28-year-old budding financier. He was identified as K. Thirunavukkarasu who belonged to Makkinampatti.
The FIR was filed on 24th February 2019. The police detained five men who were found out to be friends of Thirunavukkarsu. The list of perpetrators also involved an office bearer who identified as ‘Bar’ Nagaraj of AIADMK’s Amma Peravai, ward 34 in Pollachi. Nagaraj was later suspended from the party.
Published By: Manan Khurana
Edited By: Subbuthai Padma
