CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, on Thursday, demanded a CBI inquiry into the sexual assault of a female student on Anna University campus, saying the police department under the DMK government has no locus standi to investigate the case. Palaniswami also reiterated that the CBI must investigate the case to render justice to the student without any political interference.
“Though law minister S Regupathy has denied that the accused, Gnanasekaran, is not a member of the DMK, evidence of the man being a party functionary is doing the rounds on social media,” Palaniswami said, questioning the rationale behind uploading the FIR copy with personal details of the victim.
The DMK government has to provide full protection to the survivor, he said. Palaniswami also announced that party cadre would be staging demonstrations in all district headquarters on Friday alleging that the DMK government had failed to contain atrocities against women and to maintain law and order.
Meanwhile, senior leaders of the AIADMK and BJP were arrested by the Chennai city police for attempting to stage demonstrations at different locations to condemn the sexual assault.
AIADMK functionaries and cadre tried to stage a demonstration in front of Anna University. When the police denied them permission, former organising secretary D Jayakumar and other AIADMK functionaries got into an argument with the personnel. They were detained and released in the evening.
BJP’s senior leaders, including Tamilisai Soundararajan, also attempted to stage demonstration near Valluvar Kottam and raised slogans. Police also arrested them and released them in the evening. BJP state president K Annamalai formed an eight-member committee headed by Soundararajan to stage demonstrations in all districts on Friday to condemn the assault and “deterioration” of the law and order situation under the DMK regime.
Palaniswami, in a post on his X handle, asked how could people believe that CCTV cameras did not function in Anna University, one of the important educational institutions in the state.
“How was a history-sheeter allowed inside the campus? The DMK government has been arresting people for just posting tweets. How come the government failed to arrest Gnanasekaran who is involved in many crimes? The Madras High Court suo motu ordered a CBI inquiry into the sexual assault case about a girl from Anna Nagar. However, the DMK government opposed the CBI investigation. If the government goes all the way to the Supreme Court in support of a sex offender, how could sexual offenders have any fear about this government,” Palaniswami asked.