'Women Cannot Move Out Without Fear Even During The Day, Efforts Of Freedom Fighters In Vain': Madras HC While Dismissing Bail Plea In Pollachi Sexual Assault Case

The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to arrest all the accused persons in the 2019 Pollachi sexual assault case and further ordered the investigating agency to make an 'earnest effort' to commence trial by the first week of September. The Sessions Judge, Mahalir Neethi Mandram, Coimbatore, was also directed to conduct the trial on a day-to-day basis and accordingly complete the trial within a period of 6 months from the date of commencement of the trial.

Justice M. Dhandapani issued the directions while rejecting the bail plea filed by K. Arulanantham, one of the accused persons arrested in January in the case involving allegations of rape, sexual assault and extortion of a number of women from Pollachi.

In February 2019, four men were arrested for allegedly blackmailing, sexual harassing and filming a woman in Pollachi in Tamil Nadu. Consequently local media reports divulged that not just one a few hundred women had been victims of an organised racket of sexual abuse, blackmail and extortion. The case was later transferred to the CBI.

The racket came to light after the brother of a man lodged a police complaint on behalf of his sister following which the accused person had been charged with offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and also Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 1998 and Information Technology Act, 2000.

In an unfortunate development, the name of the survivor as well as her brother had been revealed to the public by the Coimbatore Superintendent of Police during a press conference. Consequently, the Court vide its earlier orders had imposed costs to the tune of Rs 25 lakhs on the State to be paid as compensation to the victim. On Wednesday, the Court opined that the compensation alone was not enough and thus observed,

"The disclosure of the names of the victims by the investigating team over the media, has put the fate of the said victims in jeopardy and the violation is of such a magnitude that imposition of cost alone would not be sufficient ... the persons, who were investigating the case then and who had committed such a lapse of divulging the names of the victims to the media should be dealt with departmentally by initiating proceedings against them"

The Court further observed that it is of vital importance that strict action is taken against the guilty officials who had disclosed the name of the survivor in abject disregard of the directions of the Court and the Witness Protection Scheme and further opined that such persons must be dealt with 'iron hands' so that recurrence of such incidents do not take place.

The Public Prosecutor appearing for the State assured the Court on Wednesday that the government would take suitable departmental action against the concerned personnel who were found guilty of such a lapse.

Furthermore, Justice Dhandapani on Wednesday also lamented about how the 'Father of our Nation' Mahatma Gandhi had opined that independence of our country would stand fully achieved only when the day comes when women are able to venture outside without any fear at night. The Court further observed,

"The pathetic situation that has unfolded since independence is that the women folk are not able to move out without fear even during the day time as their security and safety are at peril at the hands of antisocial elements, who prey on the women folk to satisfy their lust as is reflected in this case, thereby rendering the independence attained through blood sweating of our freedom fighters an effort in vain"

Thus, the Court advocated for the speedy disposal of such cases which is the only way that a 'semblance of safety could be infused in the minds of the common man' that the justice delivery system could be banked upon to deal with perpetuators of such heinous crimes with iron hands.

Directions Issued

Accordingly, the Court proceeded to issue a host of directions,

• The CBI shall take all earnest efforts to apprehend all suspects, if not already apprehended. A report is to be filed on this aspect before the commencement of trial.

• The CBI can file an application seeking identity-protection of the witnesses before the competent authority. On receipt of the same, the authority shall pass appropriate order in terms of the Witness Protection Scheme.

• The trial court shall ensure that the name of the witnesses are not revealed to any other person.

• The Witness Protection Measures as spelt out in in Part-II, Part-III, Part-IV and Part-V of the Witness Protection Scheme, 2018, shall be strictly adhered to once the competent authority has passed an order protecting the identity of the witness.

• The State government also shall ensure that the protection measures, as envisaged under Clause-7 of the Witness Protection Scheme, is strictly adhered to, so that the identity of the witness would be closely guarded pre-trial and post-trial, so that the safety and security of the victims and witnesses would stand protected.

• The State shall provide the necessary funds for implementing the witness protection programme pursuant to the Witness Protection Order passed by the competent authority.

• The State shall also take all necessary steps for providing Live Link for taking deposition of the victims and the witnesses for the purposes of interacting with the competent authority as also for the purpose of deposing before the Court.

• The Forensic Lab, which comes under the control of the State, shall submit necessary reports relating to the items, which have been sent by the CBI for analysis to the CBI within two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the order. The Public Prosecutor appearing for the State shall ensure that the reports are dispatched by the Forensic Lab within the time frame.

• In view of the sensitivity of the case, the trial court shall take all necessary steps to conduct "In-Camera Proceedings", wherever necessary as provided under Clause 2 (f) of the Witness Protection Scheme.

• The Public Prosecutor appointed by the CBI before the trial court for the purpose of conducting the trial before the Sessions Judge shall take the assistance of K Srinivasan, Special Public Prosecutor for CBI cases, High Court, Madras, for the effective conduct of the trial. He is to be informed of the day-to-day affairs in the conduct of the trial so that he can assist in the proper conduct of the case for ensuring fair delivery of justice to all the parties concerned.

Case Title: K Arulanantham v. State by Central Bureau of Investigation

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