With investigation by the CB-CID in the Pollachi sexual assault racket ongoing, Public Interest Litigations (PIL) are being filed in courts in Tamil Nadu and New Delhi related to the case. On Friday, a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court asking for action to be taken against Coimbatore SP R Pandiarajan, who compromised the identity of the 19-year-old survivor who filed the complaint.
The petition also asked for the court to ‘provide necessary safeguard to the victims and their immediate family members and to keep their identity under secrecy’. The PIL requested the court to instruct the Director General of Police of Tamil Nadu to initiate departmental inquiry against Pandiarajan, who revealed the survivor’s identity in a televised press conference on March 1.
Apart from the SP’s erroneous conduct, a government order issued on Wednesday to transfer the case to the CBI also insensitively revealed details such as the name and college of the survivor.
Further, the petition also pled for the apex court to order the CBI for a fair, free and impartial probe in the matter and submit reports from time to time.
Coincidentally, this petition was filed on the same day as the order by the Madurai bench of Madras High Court ordering the central government to take down all the videos and photos related to the Pollachi sexual assault case online. The High Court also expressed hope that suitable departmental action be taken against all the officials involved in revealing the identity of the survivor who had filed the complaint.
The police have so far arrested four men in relation to the case namely, Sabarirajan, Sathish, Thirunavakkarasu and Vasanthakumar; and investigation is underway. The four men have allegedly been using the same modus operandi and trapping women for years – they would befriend them on social media, engage in sexual acts with them or sexually assault them when they met in person and record videos of the same. They would then use these videos to blackmail the women for sexual or monetary favours.