Inspector From Tamil Nadu Allegedly Accused For Gang Rape Remanded In Custody

A police inspector has been remanded in custody after being ordered to do so by the SC/ST Special Court in Villupuram on Monday. The police inspector is accused of getting involved in a gang rape of indigenous tribal women from Thirukovilur. After K Srinivasan appeared for a bail hearing at the Villupuram district court on May 16, the inspector at the Arakkonam police station had vanished.

Official sources reported that the case was postponed until Friday. The alleged act of police brutality happened in 2011, when officers from the Thirukovilur police station detained a few odd men and women and interrogated them as part of a case. While 11 other members of their families were being tortured in police custody, four cops are accused of sexually assaulting four indigenous women in a eucalyptus forest.

After the families sought legal assistance from a few activists, PV Ramesh of the Tribal Irular Protection of Rights Organization petitioned the Madras High Court in 2012 to launch an investigation by the CBI. However, the court mandated that a special officer with the rank of additional superintendent of police conduct the investigation.

However, even ten years after the incident, the Villupuram district court has not received the chargesheet against the five police officers. Sources claim that V Gomathi, who was at the time a special investigation officer and additional superintendent of police, filed a chargesheet accusing five Thirukovilur police station officers of the murder. The source continued that the report was returned for a few revisions, but it has not been filed in court.