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Coimbatore: The Coimbatore District Mahila Court, in Tamil Nadu, on Tuesday, sentenced all nine accused in the sensational Pollachi sexual assault case of 2019 to life in prison till death. The Tamil Nadu government has also been directed to distribute Rs 85 lakh among the eight survivors as compensation.
The case refers to the serial sexual abuse of the survivors from the Pollachi town in Tamil Nadu by a group of men after blackmailing them. The crimes took place over a two-year period between 2016 and 2018 and may have remain unnoticed had a 19-year-old college student not registered a police complaint in February 2019.
The student complained that she was sexually abused and then filmed without her consent. The criminals then used the footage to blackmail her. An investigation revealed that she was not the only survivor. The gang had targeted and sexually abused several other women. Given the gravity of the matter, the case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The CBI unearthed that the gang would befriend unsuspecting women through social media interactions. The women would then be lured to secluded locations and sexually assaulted. The acts would be captured on camera and the footage would then be used to extort sexual favours and money.
The CBI filed its first chargesheet in the case in May 2019, detailing the organised nature of the crime. The chargesheet was filed against against N Rishwanth alias Sabarirajan, K Thirunavukkarasu, T Vasanthakumar, N Sathish, R Manivannan alias Mani, K Arulanantham, Haronimus Paul, P Babu alias ‘Bike Babu’ and M Arunkumar. All of them are Pollachi residents.
They were arrested by the CBI, interrogated, and then sent to judicial custody in Salem, Tamil Nadu. Over 40 witnesses were examined by the court over the next few years. According to the CBI, only one witness turned hostile.
The case sent shockwaves across Tamil Nadu with several critical issues, regarding the exploitation of young women using digital means, being raised. Tuesday’s verdict has been welcomed by all and people are hoping that it will send a strong message across society that such crimes will not be tolerated.