COIMBATORE: The mother of a Pocso case victim, who was facing pressure from the family members of the accused to retract her statement in the court during the trial of the case, had to struggle for more than three days to get a police complaint registered against the family members for threatening her in the case.
An FIR was finally filed late on Wednesday after the intervention of Coimbatore City Police Commissioner V Balakrishnan. The girl’s family had approached the police seeking protection on Monday after threats from the accused’s family, who are from the same neighbourhood, became unbearable. The Kattoor All Women Police arrested the 48-year-old man on July 22 for sexual assault.
Wife of Pocso accused promised to marry him to victim if case withdrawn
The accused was a part-time temple priest who ran a grocery shop. The mother of the victim, who was working as a construction labourer, has three daughters and a son. The victim was studying in Class 11 when the incident took place in March this year.
According to police, the suspect allegedly threatened the victim when she went to his grocery shop to buy things and sexually assaulted her. The incident came to light in July after the girl was three months pregnant.
Based on a complaint by the victim’s mother, the Kavundampalayam police registered a case under Pocso Act and arrested the suspect after a search for two days. The victim’s mother claimed that she was threatened by the suspect’s wife and sister a few days ago, saying that the girl’s family will be destroyed once the accused comes out on bail unless they agree to retract the sexual assault charge during the trial. They also told the victim’s mother that they would get the girl married to the accused if he is released from the case.
“Since the pressure from the accused’s family became unbearable, the mother of the victim went to Kattoor AWPS on Monday to file a complaint. PB Sundara Vignesh, counsel for the victim, said, “The Kattoor cops asked us to go to Kavundampalayam station. On Monday night, we went to the station and explained the situation. But our complaint was not taken seriously. We returned and again went to the station on subsequent days but our complaint was not accepted.”
When contacted, Kavundampalayam inspector A Rajesh said, “On Monday, around 11 pm, they visited the station without a written complaint. We asked them to come the next day with a written complaint. When they visited on Wednesday morning, I was about to leave for an important duty. I asked them to wait for some time to get the complaint.”
When TNIE brought the issue to the notice of Commissioner V Balakrishnan, he directed the Kavundampalayam police to file an FIR immediately. A police team visited the victim’s house on Wednesday evening and received the complaint. An FIR was filed on Wednesday night.