The Pollachi sexual assault case refers to a case of rape and extortion of numerous women by a gang in Pollachi, Coimbatore in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The gang would entice women into isolated places after befriending them on social media and sexually assault them and filmed the act. The videos were later used to blackmail the women for sexual favors or money. The gang came into spotlight after the family of a 19-year-old college student who claimed to had been sexually assaulted and blackmailed complained to the police. According to media accounts, at least 200 women are sexually assaulted in the very same manner and the victims were college and school teachers, doctors, higher secondary school students from all over the state. On the mobiles of the accused, police said they discovered dozens of video recordings of women being abused at a farmhouse belonging to one of the accused and some were leaked.
There were protests across the state organized by students, political parties and various organizations to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The police arrested four men who were alleged to be involved in the rape and extortion ring. The case was shifted to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), another man surrendered before the judicial magistrate and confessed to raping and blackmailing women. Later the five men were sent to the Salem central prison. The CBI arrested three more men involved in the incident in January 2021 including a functionary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). The CBI made minimal progress before these arrests.
The AIADMK was criticized after the arrest of its functionary, with some news reports implying that the connection to the incident runs deeper within the party. One person arrested claimed that the racket had connections with prominent party members. According to some activists and political observers, the arrests were an attempt by the CBI and the central government to arm-twist the AIADMK to ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and to give more seats in the seat-sharing process of the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election.
Incident
On February 12, 2019, a 19-year-old college student in Pollachi received a call from an acquaintance who said he needed to speak with her alone about something important and told her to meet him near a bus stop. He invited her to get into the car with him and his friend who was also another acquaintance of hers, and assured that they would speak on the way. Two more men got in the car unexpectedly and the girl was forcibly undressed and videotaped, and a gold chain she was wearing was stolen by the four of them. They threatened her to give them sexual favors and money if they wanted it, or they would post the video online. They abandoned her in the middle of the road after she screamed and cried.
She kept the incident hidden from her family. When the men repeatedly blackmailed her and threatened to extort money from her, she chose to confide in her family. Two men involved were then tracked by her brother and his friends, who beat them up and grabbed the men's mobile phones, which included recordings of at least three other girls whom the men might have coerced. The family reported this to the Pollachi police department, along with a sexual assault and theft lawsuit.
The rape and extortion ring
The victim's story, as well as the mobile seized from the four men, uncovered a huge racket supposed involvement of other more men. The men reportedly used fake Facebook profiles to entice women, they would make a conversation with them and befriend them. Each of the men would entice women to an isolated house or hotel, where he would either rape the women or persuade them to have sex with him. His accomplices would film the act. If it was a sexual assault, one of the companions would hop in to pose as a protector while the other men proceeded to film. The accused had already raped and videotaped other young women, according to the police report. A few video recordings of women being sexually assaulted, reportedly shot at the farmhouse, have been leaked. In these films, girls are seen pleading with the attackers for compassion. Most were taken to a farm house belonging to one of the accused and then raped and filmed. The videos filmed in the farm house were used to later blackmail them for sexual favours and money.
