COIMBATORE: Marking the beginning of trial in the Pollachi sexual assault case, the Mahila Court on Thursday framed charges against all the nine accused. The court posted the next hearing to November 25.
The accused — N Rishwanth alias Sabarirajan (26), K Thirunavukkarasu (28), N Sathish (30), T Vasanthakumar (25), R Manivannan alias Mani (31), K Arulanantham (34), P Babu alias ‘Bike’ Babu (27), Haronimus Paul (29), and M Arunkumar (29) — were produced before Sessions Judge R Nandhinidevi. The judge read out the charges in the in-camera session. The accused denied the charges.
According to sources, the accused have been booked under Sections 354 A (sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment), 354 B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 392 (punishment for robbery) and 376 (punishment for rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Section 66 E (punishment for violation of privacy) of the Information Technology Act and Section 4 (penalty for harassment of women) of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman (TNPHW) Act. The accused were given copies of the chargesheet as well as statements of eight victims.