A number of organisations that came under the banner of Madurai District Women’s Federation staged a demonstration here on Saturday demanding the removal of Coimbatore Superintendent of Police R. Pandiarajan for his insensitive and callous handling of the Pollachi sexual abuse case.
The women blamed the SP for intentionally revealing the identity of the girl, who came forward to file the complaint, so that no one else affected in the crime came forward to file complaints. “As the head of the district police, he is responsible for the leak of videos of the crime as well since they must have come from the police department,” said S. K. Ponnuthai, one of the State secretaries of All India Democratic Women’s Association.
“Moreover, how can the SP give a statement that no one with political affiliations were involved in the crime when the issue was still under investigation? What role does he have to ask the journalists to not politicise the issue,” she asked.
Stating that the SP was already involved in a case of assaulting women, who participated in a protest against the functioning of a TASMAC-run liquor outlet, the protesters said that he must not be given the responsibility of handling the Pollachi case.
They demanded that the case be investigated by a Supreme Court monitored investigation team to ensure that all the culprits involved in the crime were brought to books. They appealed for ensuring the safety of the affected women and their families. Members from 17 organisations that are part of the Madurai District Women’s Federation took part in the protest.
Makkal Athigaram outfit organised a separate protest on the issue on Saturday.
