Pollachi is a town in Tamil Nadu, located about 40 km south of Coimbatore. This case deserves enough media attention and media mileage to bring out a gruesome sex racket being carried out in Tamil Nadu. There is a huge furore about this incident in the people of Tamil Nadu and the country. Stories like these require national media to cover them and let more and more people to know about it.
A lot of infuriated Tamilians have been posting about this incident online with hashtags #PollachiSexualAbuse and #ArreshPollachiRapist.
The 4 accused in this crime are:
- Sabarirajan also known as Riswandh,25
- Thirunavukkarasu, 26
- Vasanthakumar
- Sathish
On 12th February 2019, Priya (name changed) was enticed by her acquaintance to come and speak with him alone. The acquaintances name is Sabariranjan. He told her to reach at a bus stop in Pollachi. She reached there in the afternoon and was told to sit in a car. His friend Thirunavukkarasu, was also in the car. He was also known by Priya.
Sabariranjan was sitting in the back seat with her and then suddenly two more men got in. Their names are Vasanthakumar and Satish. They then forcefully took off her clothes and made a video. They also stole her ornaments. They then blackmailed her that if she does not give them sexual favors and money in the future, they would leak her video on the internet. She was screaming and crying and then they left her in the middle of the road.
Priya was really taken aback after the incidence and did not mention it to anyone. However, after they multiple times tried to extort money from her, she did mention it to her family.
Her brother Subhash (name changed) then got hold of Sabariranjan and Thirunavukkarasu and beat them up. In doing so, he unearthed a horrific sexual violence racket in Tamil Nadu. A complaint was filled to the Pollachi police and on getting hold of their phone. Similar videos of three other women were found, who were also being blackmailed simultaneously.
The police then filed an FIR against all 4 accused on 24th February. The FIR has been filled under sections 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (assault or use of criminal force against woman with intent to disrobe), and 394 (robbery) of the IPC; section 66E of the IT Act (violation of privacy); and section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Sexual Harassment of Women Act (sexual harassment), the News Minute reported.
The Racket
What happened to Priya has revealed a massive racket run by these 4 men and several other men of blackmailing women for sexual favors and money. In order to find out who are the other accused in this crime, the police has asked to victims to come out in the open with their stories. Other details that have been revealed from the case are that Sabariranjan, would lure women to come to a secluded house or a hotel and then he would either impose himself on them or he would lure them to have sex with them. And all this while, his other friends, hidden, were shooting the same. If it was an assault then the other accomplice would barge in and pretend to save the girl.
In the videos that have been leaked, the word Riswandh (aka Sabariranjan) have been heard and Thirunavukkarasu and Satish have been seen.
There are media reports that there could be around 50 to 200 victims of this mega racket. There is no official confirmation of the numbers. As per an IANS report, there is a gang of around more than 15 people who are perpetrating this crime.
Subhash was also threatened by friends of Thirunavukkarasu, that if anything were to happen to their friends he would not be alive.
A 5th accused called “Bal Nagaraj” was also mentioned in FIR, who is a member of political party AIADMK. He has now been expelled.
All 5 accused are on bail and out of jail now. Actor Kamal Hassan spoke about about this incident and said that “More than 60 women from Pollachi in Coimbatore, have been blackmailed and tortured by a group of men.”
Many high profile politicians associates have possibly been be a part of this racket as per the Tamil Magazines editor. However, there is no evidence of such an involvement.
With the elections around the corner, there is politicisation of the case, as the opposition party DMK has been holding rallies so that there is some action taken against the accused. Kanimozhi from DMK has called out against such crimes against women in his latest tweets.
Several videos of the victims are doing rounds on whatsapp without much question about how it is affecting the mental health of the victims. It is very unfortunate that the perpetrators of the crime had the audacity to carry out a racket of this scale. It is equally unfortunate that mainstream media has failed to give a voice to this story as much as it deserves.
- Tanya Kathpal
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