The Harur All-Women Police registered a case against a man four days after he had allegedly sexually assaulted a 20-year-old physically and mentally challenged girl on Sunday.
According to the complaint filed by the victim-survivor’s mother, the accused, a neighbour and a distant cousin, who was allegedly hiding in the backyard, gagged her with a towel, carried her to a secluded spot before sexually assaulting her.
The police filed an FIR on Thursday, after the intervention of the Tamil Nadu Differently-abled Association and the Superintendent of Police here on Thursday.
P. Saravanan, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Association for Rights of All Types of Differently-abled and Care-givers (TARATDAC) told The Hindu that the girl had told her mother about the incident after which her parents went to Kadathur police station to file a complaint within hours of the crime. However, the Kadathur police redirected the victim to Harur All Women’s Police Station.
The girl’s brother Ramesh (name changed), said the family went to the AWPS on Monday since it was already late on Sunday. “We were not even allowed inside the station and after a whole day’s wait we were once again asked to return to Kadathur police station.” On Tuesday, the village heads gathered at the police station seeking a ‘compromise’ on behalf of the accused.
Ramesh alleged that Kadathur station inspector forcibly obtained a letter from the victim’s family claiming to compromise. However, picking wind of the issue, TARATDAC district secretary Saravanan, along with the victim’s family met with the Superintendent of Police Loganathan on Wednesday, who forwarded it to the ADSP of Harur asking him to look into it.
An FIR under Section 376 of IPC was finally registered on Thursday after the ADSP directed the AWPS.
In the intervening period, the local police had allegedly beaten up the victim’s father and cousin while trying to force them to accept a compromise, Mr. Saravanan said. The victim was sent for a medical examination only on Thursday after the FIR was filed.
When contacted, the ADSP of Harur Palanikumar said that the “family was reportedly in a mood for compromise on Wednesday morning”. However, when asked why the police had refused to register a case as soon as the victim and her family had gone to the police station within hours of the crime and about the allegations against the Kadathur police inspector and SI, Mr. Palanikumar said an inquiry would be held in this regard.
The police filed an FIR after the intervention of the Tamil Nadu Differently-abled Association
and the SP
