Anna Nagar minor rape: Madras HC directs victim’s mom to file reply to TN govt’s counter

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court (MHC) directed the mother of a minor girl, who was sexually assaulted, to respond to the counter filed by the State to her petition seeking protection from the accused persons.

A division bench of JusticeSM Subramaniam and JusticeN Mala heard the suo motu case regarding the alleged brutal police attack on the minor girl’s parents at the police station in favour of the accused.

The victim’s mother also filed a habeas corpus petition (HCP) seeking protection from the accused persons and compensation under the Pocso Act.

Submitting a counter to the habeas corpus petition, the State Public Prosecutor (PP) Hasan Mohammed Jinnah said that the HCP will not be maintainable because the victim is not in police custody.

Further, he contended that the police protection and compensation sought in the plea cannot be heard before this bench as it only has the portfolio for the HCP cases. Thus, the matter should be heard before the single bench having writ jurisdiction.

However, the bench refused to accept the contention stating that the acting Chief Justice of the High Court has placed the matter before the bench hence it cannot be transferred to a single bench. “To decide the maintainability of the HCP, we must hear the parties on merit,” said the bench and refused to dismiss the petition.

The counsel, who appeared for the petitioner, submitted that the investigation officer leaked the audio of the girl’s statement with malafide intentions. The counsel said the audio was also widely circulated in electronic media.

As a repercussion, the victim and her family had to shift places due to the pressure to vacate their rented house, said the counsel. He also added that the victim and family face life threats because the accused is a politically influential person and thus they sought police protection. Differing from the facts about the incident submitted by the family, the PP sought the Court’s intervention to direct the Pocso court to inquire about the incident and file a report.

After the submission, the bench posted the matter to October 1 with directions to the petitioner to file a response to the State’s counter.

The victim is a sixth-class student (10 years old) from Anna Nagar. She complained of stomach pain on August 29 and she was brought to Kilpauk Medical College hospital, where the doctor found the minor girl was sexually assaulted repeatedly. After this, the girl told her mother that a person from their neighbourhood sexually assaulted her.

The parents filed a complaint with the Anna Nagar All Women police station, however, the police personnel including Inspector Raji allegedly attacked them in support of the accused.

The High Court took suo motu cognizance of the case, as this brutal attack was widely reported in print and electronic media.