Pollachi sexual-assault and blackmail case: Rumours of videos and protests leave Tamil Nadu town shaken 

Arunima Bajaj  Tuesday 26th of March 2019 04:11 PM
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New Delhi: Nearly a month after the police complaint for the Pollachi sexual-assault and blackmail case was filed, the police have overcome some mortifying errors, including revealing the name of the victim and complainant. Despite four men were arrested and sent to judicial custody and a CBI probe has been initiated, Pollachi continues to protest.

While there’s unanimity on the demand for an impartial and thorough probe into the case, there is a sudden new claim doing rounds that “600 young women had been sexually abused by the gang” and “sex videos of many victims are circulating in the public.” This has put the town on the edge.

A lawyers’ group in Coimbatore protested along with various students’ organizations in the district. A large posse of policemen and policewomen continued to keep a watchful eye in the town’s central areas, all through the week and on Tuesday, trade associations across the town decided to keep shops closed.

Kalki Subramaniam, a Pollachi-based transgender activist, said, “The victim-blaming goes on and on … all these opinions asking why girls are hanging out with boys, why they’re befriending boys on Facebook, why they want boyfriends, why they’re getting into these friends’ cars … It’s a tragedy in our culture … to weaken women by blaming victims.”

Expectedly, while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has attempted to cash in on the case. Rajya Sabha MP MK Kanimozhi addressed a rally in Pollachi and called for a probe into the suicides of seven to eight young women in the town over the past few years. The smaller parties have raised the pitch too. K Mahalingam, taluka secretary of the CPM, said all trade unions had supported Tuesday’s closure of shops.


 

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