Pollachi Rape Case: An Empowering Verdict

The sentencing of nine men to life in prison by a Mahila Court for rape and gang rape in the Pollachi case that shook Tamil Nadu six years ago stands out for advancing women’s safety. Eight women who came forward to testify in the case braved many adverse factors in a small-town setting, including shocking intimidatory moves by the local police after the first victim filed a complaint. The case pertains to several young women who were trapped by acquaintances, disrobed, attacked and filmed on video, with the gang of attackers blackmailing them for sex and money. These macabre crimes, echoing Maharashtra’s Jalgaon sex scandal of the 1990s, took place for some years before exploding as a public scandal in 2019 when the first victim came forward. One of the convicts was the Pollachi town youth wing secretary of the AIADMK, which was in power at the time. He was expelled by the party after arrest. Public outrage forced the government of the day to transfer the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which resulted in legal support to the survivors, sustained recording of evidence and a speedy trial. Yet, the state police and the home department emerged with a tattered image for their attempts to intimidate the woman who stepped forward to complain. They brazenly issued a G.O. mentioning her name, educational institution, and her brother’s identity. The DMK, led by its MP Kanimozhi, attacked these machinations as a clear attempt to prevent more women from complaining.

In the wake of the convictions in the Pollachi case, the DMK and the AIADMK have traded barbs over women’s safety in Tamil Nadu. Although the AIADMK should have been on the backfoot for obvious reasons, it instead claimed credit for handing over the case to the CBI, resulting in speedy, effective justice. Going on the offensive, the party’s leader, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, questioned the sincerity of the DMK government under M.K. Stalin in making the state safe for women, pointing to a more recent case at Anna University in which a student was assaulted by a man on campus last year. Here too, the FIR was leaked, identifying her publicly, but the Madras High Court took suo motu cognisance of the crime. The DMK was also at pains to distance itself from the accused, who the party acknowledged was its supporter, though it denied he was a member. The central issue is women's safety. Tamil Nadu has done well socially and economically, with dedicated schemes for women’s participation in education. It is home to 43% of women workers in the country’s manufacturing sector. But the state government should worry that corruption in key departments is sapping public confidence. Unless CM Stalin engages in a clean-up, his government risks being seen as indifferent to women’s safety, with implications for the 2026 state assembly poll.