Chennai: Chennai POCSO special court has sentenced 13 people, including a police inspector, who were declared guilty in the case of sexually harassing a 15-year-old girl in Chennai, to 20 years in prison, and to 8 relatives of the girl, to life imprisonment.
In 2020, a 15-year-old girl from Wannarpettai, Chennai, filed a complaint at the Wannarpettai Women’s Police Station about serial sexual harassment. Subsequently, Madankumar, Saitabhanu, Sandhya, Selvi, Karthik, Maheshwari, Vanitha, Vijaya, Anitha alias Kasthuri, Mari, Pasha, Muthubandi, Meena, Rajendran, Police Inspector Pugahendi, Kameswara Rao, Mohammad Azharuddin were accused of sexually harassing the girl and being accomplices. , Basuluddin, Vinobaji, Kridharan, Rajasunder, Mariswaran, Nagaraj, Ponraj, Venkatram alias Ajay and Kannan have registered a case against 26 people. Mari, Pasha, Muthupandi and Meena are absconding. Mariswaran died during the investigation.
The trial of the other 21 persons took place before Judge M. Rajalakshmi at the Chennai POCSO Special Court. Special Advocate DG Kavita appeared and argued for the government. Several lawyers appeared for the accused. After listening to the arguments of both sides, the judge said, “In this case, the allegations against the government have been proved. Accused police inspector Pugahendi ruled on September 15 that 21 people, including 7 women, are guilty.
In this case, the judge announced the punishment details in this case yesterday. For this, all the 21 people who were imprisoned were brought to the court under heavy security and produced.
Judge M. Rajalakshmi said in the judgment:
8 relatives of the victim girl namely Madankumar (40), Saitabhanu (24), Sandhya (29), Selvi (52), Karthik (31), Maheshwari (33), Vanitha (37) and Vijaya (47) have been sentenced to life imprisonment. 13 people including police inspector Bhujahendi are sentenced to 20 years in prison. A total fine of Rs.7 lakh is imposed on all 21 people. In this, a fine of Rs.1.25 lakh has been imposed on police inspector Bhujahendi alone. The total penalty amount and Rs.5 lakh from the Tamil Nadu government should be given to the victim girl. Thus ruled the judge. Subsequently, all the accused were taken to Puzhal Jail.
Brave female explorer
In November 2020, the girl lodged a complaint at the Vannarpet Women’s Police Station that her relatives had forced her into sex work. Police Inspector Priyadarshini started the investigation accordingly.
He rounded up the middleman who was using the girl for sex. In the first phase of investigation, it was revealed that the girl’s relatives forced her into sex work, transferred her to brokers and earned thousands of money daily.
When they were taken into custody and interrogated, it was revealed that Rajendran, a political leader and businessman from the area, had given a large amount of money to the girl’s relatives and kept the girl under his complete control. After that, police inspector, private TV reporter, food distribution officer, prominent figures of political parties sexually harassed the girl. It was also revealed that Rajendran’s office was also used for this. It is noteworthy that Police Inspector Priyadarshini acted bravely and took action against the criminals and arrested them.
Last February 2021, the police filed a charge sheet against the accused persons in the Chennai POCSO Special Court. In the 600-page chargesheet, relevant evidence was submitted along with documents such as the victim girl’s statement, arrestee’s statement, witness statement. It is noteworthy that 96 people testified on behalf of the government.