: Even as permission was being awaited for the prosecution of police personnel who allegedly abducted and raped four tribal women near Tirukoilur in Villupuram district in 2011, the Madras High Court has directed that the decision on according sanction for prosecution should be taken expeditiously and within December 29.
The common status report filed by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, District Crime Branch, Villupuram stated that the final report had been filed before the Judicial Magistrate, Tirukoilur on November 28. The final report was filed under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including Section 376 (rape) and its various sub-sections read with Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act.
However, since sufficient material was not found as to whether women were from the Scheduled Tribe community, the provisions on that behalf had not been included. The First Bench comprising Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice R. Mahadevan ordered referral of the issue to the State Level Scrutiny Committee, which has been directed to conclude the proceedings within two months.
During the hearing of the case, it was submitted that permission has been sought from the competent authority for prosecution of the accused (A1 to A4) and it was still awaited. The departmental proceedings have also commenced and were in progress, it was submitted in the court.
According to the petitioners, four tribal women were allegedly taken into custody by personnel attached to the Tirukoilur Police Station in the late hours of November 26, 2011 and were raped.
In his plea, P. Pugalenthi, Director of Prisoners Rights Forum, sought transfer of the probe into the alleged incident from the State police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and to further direct the authorities concerned to initiate departmental disciplinary proceedings against the police personnel, who had allegedly arrested four tribal women on November 22, 2011.
Another petition by P.V. Ramesh, Co-ordinator of Pazhangkudi Irular Pathukappu Sangam, too sought to transfer the case to the CBI and for registering a case against the police personnel for having allegedly threatened and coerced the victims to withdraw their complaint.
