CHENNAI: All 17 men arrested for the alleged gang-rape of an 11-year-old girl in an apartment in Chennai were detained under the Goondas Act by an order of the city Police Commissioner A K Viswanathan on Thursday.
The detention under the Goondas Act would make it difficult for the accused to get released on bail for the next one year, unless the High Court quashed the detention.
The incident that came to light on July 15 shook the nation as around 22 men gang-raped the 11 -year-old girl with hearing and speech impairment for seven months.
The police arrested 17 men in the age-group of 25 to 66. Six were above 50 who were working as plumbers, security guards and house-keepers. Soon after the incident, the residents of the apartment cancelled all outsourced workers.
An identification parade was held on July 25 and the men were produced in the mahila court.
Ravikumar, 56, and Rajasekar, 40, of Ayanavaram; Suresh, 32, of Kolathur; Erald Bross, 58, of Perambur; B.J. Sugumaran, 65, of Kathirvedu; Abishek, 23; Murugesu, 54; Paramasivam, 60; Palani, 40; Jayaganesh, 28; Gunasekaran, 55; Babu, 36; Deenadayalan, 50; Jayaraman, 26; Surya, 23; M. Raja, 30, and Umapathy, 42, were the suspects who were produced before the court.
The offenders were booked under sections 307 (Attempt to murder), 506(ii) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and section 5 (Punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault), 10 (Punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) and 12 (Punishment for Sexual harassment) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. A few more accused wanted by the police in the case are still at large.