A routine news conference organized by Tamil Nadu Minister for Transport MR Vijayabhaskar at the Koyembedu bus terminal in Chennai turned into an ugly spat between a woman and the police, and a spectacle for the media. The angry woman gatecrashed into the conference and alleged that the police had lathi-charged her for sleeping on the platform because she was unwell.

The woman, who identified herself as Annapoornam and a research scholar in Bengaluru, said that she had arrived at the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus in Chennai on Monday morning at 6 45am. Since she had a severe headache, migraine and vomiting, she wanted to take rest and was lying down, she said.

Soon, a policeman came over and hit her with a lathi, the woman alleged. Screaming in anger in front the minister and the media, she stated that the policeman then came with four other personnel including two policewomen, and harassed her.

The minister assured her that action would be taken, but she would not relent. “I have filed a complaint. In the name of safety, people are tortured by the police. The names of the two policemen were Pandi and Kuppuswamy. They need to be dismissed,” she said in anguish.

As she was speaking, the police tried to usher her away. She then screamed into the mics, saying this was the way they were torturing her.

“They told me they had ‘doubts’ about me.  What doubts? Is this how a single woman is treated? For common women, single women there is no freedom,” she said.

The police then tried to drag her away, but she screamed and fought back. Later, the Minister, who had since walked out of the press meet, returned to intervene and calm everyone down, and walked her out.

He assured the media that action would be taken.

“She was sleeping at the Koyambedu bus stand around 5. 30am. Police have been given orders from senior officials that no one should sleep at the bus stand, so the police just asked her to leave the place. That’s all. No one harassed her,” said Saravanan, police inspector at Koyambedu police station.