COIMBATORE: Following a complaint from a woman functionary of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), the Karamadai police have booked the party's Karamadai union secretary and two others, including a woman, on charges of sexual harassment and offences under the SC/ST Act.
The victim, a 29-year-old woman, who was working as a secretary of the TVK's village-level branch in Karamadai Union, petitioned the Coimbatore Collectorate on Thursday. She accused the union secretary of approaching her inappropriately and misbehaving with her during party-related work, and of ill-treating her by mentioning her caste when she refused to cooperate with him. She also accused him of instigating a couple, who allegedly issued a life threat to her and defamed her on caste grounds.
Acting on her complaint, Superintendent of Police A Pavankumar Reddy ordered a probe led by the DSP and a case has been registered.
The suspects have been identified as Karupusamy of Sirumugai, TVK local functionary Sabitha and her husband Pandi. Karupusamy was the TVK's Karamadai union secretary and the others were his supporters, police said.
They were booked on Thursday under Sections 296(b) (uttering obscene words), 75 (sexual harassment) and 351(3) (aggravated criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and Sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(s) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. No arrest has been reported yet.
According to the FIR, three months ago, while returning home at midnight after attending a branch secretaries' meeting, the victim was accompanied by the union secretary, who allegedly misbehaved with her and sexually harassed her. The victim, who refused to cooperate with him, rushed home. He then allegedly targeted the woman, removed her from the post and replaced her with another woman intentionally, and continued to harass her, the FIR said.
Despite reporting the matter to their constituency MLA three times, she was asked to produce proof for her allegations, the victim alleged.
Later, the two other suspects, Sabitha and her husband Pandi, allegedly instigated by the union secretary, chased the victim's mother and gave a life threat to them after abusing them with a caste slur.
