CHENNAI: Strongly denying the allegations of the opposition parties against the government regarding the case of sexual assault of a female student of Anna University, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday assured the State Assembly that impartial action would be taken against the accused and if any other person is found to be involved in the crime.
"In a bid to put an end to the speculations and allegations that the accused, Gnanasekaran was a DMK member, the Chief Minister also clarified that while the accused was a party sympathiser, he was certainly not a member of the DMK"
He further assured that charge sheet in the case will be filed within 60 days and maximum punishment will be ensured for the accused. The CM said that the attempts by the Opposition parties to portray that there is no safety for women in Tamil Nadu, based on this one incident, would not succeed.
"During the investigation of the SIT (Special Investigation Team constituted by the Madras High Court), if any other person's involvement is found, the police will take impartial action against that person irrespective of that person's background. The charge sheet will be filed within 60 days and the government will take all steps to hear this case through a special / designated court and ensure maximum punishment to the perpetrators of this crime," the Chief Minister said, replying to the discussion on a special mention under Rule 55.
"The government can be faulted had it failed to take appropriate action or arrest the accused in this crime. However, the culprit was arrested within few hours,” he said, adding that accusing the government even after such stern action was only for gaining political mileage and not because of the affected student.
Following a complaint from the survivor, the Kotturpuram All Women Police filed a case immediately on December 24 and Gnanasekaran, the accused, was arrested the next morning. He has since been booked under the Goondas Act as well. “This is the right and expeditious action taken by the police department," the CM said.
Referring to the issue of the FIR of the case getting leaked, the CM said the National Informatics Centre (NIC) was responsible for that and the organisation has issued a clarification on the same. He further pointed out that the surveillance cameras helped in nabbing the accused, responding to concerns that the Anna University campus had inadequate surveillance.
Pointing out that the opposition parties are raising the question “Who is that sir?” in their allegations, referring to the possibility of another person’s involvement based on the information in the leaked FIR, the CM said, "If you have any information on this, please provide it to the SIT with evidence. Instead of doing that, please don't level such an allegation for cheap political gains again and again. He added that his government will tackle crimes against women with an iron hand.
The CM referred to the Pollachi sexual assault case that happened during the AIADMK regime and pointed out that the CBI investigation into that case revealed that only persons with connections with the AIADMK were involved in this crime.
Objecting to this, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, RB Udhayakumar said the CBI investigation was ordered by the then Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. At this juncture, the AIADMK MLAs stood up and raised their objections. Following this, the DMK MLAs were also on their feet and shouted back at the AIADMK MLAs. The AIADMK MLAs then staged a walk out.