Anna University sexual assault: Take action against police commissioner, form SIT, pay student-survivor Rs 25 lakh, directs Madras HC

CHENNAI: Taking a serious view of the manner in which developments unfolded after a second-year student of Anna University was sexually assaulted inside the campus on December 23 night, the Madras High Court issued a slew of directions to the Tamil Nadu government, including initiating appropriate action against the Chennai city police commissioner for holding a press conference.

City commissioner ADGP A Arun held the press conference without obtaining consent from the State government and also disclosed unwarranted facts about the investigation into the sexual assault, which, the court said, would hamper the inquiry.

A vacation bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and V Lakshminarayanan also appointed a special investigation team comprising three women IPS officers to investigate the case and file the charge sheet expeditiously.

Vehemently denying the narrative that the FIR was leaked by authorities, Advocate General (AG) PS Raman said it was leaked due to a technical glitch on the part of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) while uploading the FIR.

The bench also directed the State government to pay Rs 25 lakh to the student as interim compensation for the leakage of the FIR and the trauma she suffered, and clarified that the interim compensation would not bar her from claiming further compensation. The amount paid as compensation must be collected from the officials who committed the lapses and showed dereliction of duty, ordered the bench.

Observing that it found serious security lapses on the part of Anna University in ensuring the safety of students, the bench directed the institution to give top priority to security and improve the functioning of the internal complaints committee by appointing well-experienced persons.

It also directed the university to ensure that the survivor continued her studies and completed the course, and said it should not collect any fees including, tuition fee, exam fee, and hostel fee, from her.

The State government was told to look into the charge that several such offences have happened inside the prestigious university.

The bench then directed the Head of Police Force, Tamil Nadu, to provide interim security to the girl and her family.

Society should not dictate how a woman should live, said the bench, adding that it was her life, her body, and her right.

The vacation bench was hearing a batch of petitions, including one moved by advocate R Varalakshmi of the AIADMK and another advocate Mohandass of the BJP, who alleged that there were a series of lapses in the probe by the Tamil Nadu police and sought a direction to transfer the investigation into the case to the CBI.

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