HC moved for probe into woman's rape

Accusing all the state organs of shielding three constables who had allegedly raped a Sri Lankan Tamil woman, her mother has filed a petition in the Madras high court seeking compensation and a CBI probe. The young woman committed self-immolation after the alleged incident and later gave a dying declaration against the cops.

Justice K Suguna, before whom the petition filed by B Padmavathi's came up for admission, ordered notices to the home secretary, director-general of police and the CBI director.

Padmavathi contended that she and her daughter were picked up by the Karur police from their refugee camp at Rayanoor on March 7. The police, who had come in a van, claimed that her husband had been detained in connection with a murder case and that he wanted to meet them.

Padmavathi said they were taken to an armed reserve force camp, where she was asked to wait in the van and her daughter was taken into a building. After nearly three hours, she too was allowed into the building where she saw three constables in civil dress walking out. Her daughter limped out of the room, she said, adding that her daughter was completely shaken and not in a position to even talk.

Later, the mother and the daughter were taken back to their home in police van. On the way, another constable threatened to kill them all if they revealed the incident to anyone, Padmavathi said.

Moments after returning to their hut, Padmavathi's daughter doused herself with kerosene and set herself ablaze. She was rushed to the hospital, where a judicial magistrate came to take her dying declaration. Because she was surrounded by scores of policemen and also because of coercion, the girl did not reveal the entire truth to the magistrate, Padmavathi said.

However, a woman advocate -- Damayanthi -- who got to know about the incident rushed to the hospital and made the victim talk in front of a cellphone camera. The victim revealed that she was undressed and sexually assaulted by the three constables. On information, another advocate, M Pari, mentioned the matter before Chief Jjustice M Yusuf Eqbal on March 9 and obtained permission for a fresh recording of dying declaration by the chief judicial magistrate.

Accordingly, the chief judicial magistrate recorded the girls' statement the same day. This time, Padmavathi said, her daughter narrated the entire sequence of events, including the sexual assault. In a subsequent RDO inquiry also she revealed more details, she said. The victim died on March 28, after a three-week struggle.

In spite of all the clinching evidence and the dying declaration implicating the three cops, no first information report (FIR) was registered by the police and none of the culprits were arrested, the petition said.

Noting that the rape of the Sri Lankan Tamil woman in Tamil Nadu has sent shock waves throughout the Tamil diaspora, the petition wanted the court to direct the police to register an FIR and to award Rs 5 lakh as interim compensation. It also wanted the matter to be entrusted with the CBI for an impartial probe.