Case against actor, panchayat chief for harassing women

A panchayat president, and an actor were among the four persons against whom the police on Thursday registered cases in different incidences of harassing women, including two minor girls, in Coimbatore, and Tirupur.

The Tirupur police is on the look out for another person who harassed a 14-year-old girl at Malayandipalayam on Wednesday.

Supports accused

The police have registered a case against Padiyur panchayat president Shanmugasundaram for coming out in support of two of the accused.

In Coimbatore the police arrested Ajay Prasad (24), an actor, and his friend Easwaran (34) for harassing a girl who was riding a two-wheeler.

The police said they followed the girl on a two-wheeler from an education institution at Bharathi Park. They tried to pull at her dress near Sai Baba Colony. She fell from her two-wheeler and was injured.

People caught hold of them and warned them of action.

Complaint

The girl preferred a complaint with the police immediately.

The police arrested them under sections 341 (wrongful confinement), 354 (use of criminal force with an intent to outrage the modesty of a woman) and 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Harassment of Women Act.

Tirupur police said a case had been registered under the recently formulated Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, following a complaint registered by the 14-year-old girl’s father.

The incident reportedly took place when the girl was alone in her house.

The police said that the government school student resisted the advances of the man when he tried to outrage her modesty which forced him to flee from the place.

The man was said to have threatened the girl with dire consequences if she revealed the incident to her parents.

In another incident, the police on Thursday arrested P. Muthukumar and M. Sivakumar on the charges of harassing a 22-year-old girl working at a computer centre on College Road in Tirupur city and assaulting her cousin who questioned the accused.

The girl’s cousin, who was attacked with iron pipes, got admitted to District Headquarters hospital in the city with injuries.

The police said a case was registered against Shamugasundaram, president of Padiyur panchayat, for supporting the accused subsequent to the assault incident.

The police said the two had been harassing the girl for many days while she was going to the computer centre.