Chennai: A 22-year-old Dalit woman was gang-raped at a cashew farm by three men in Thanjavur while she was returning home recently. The issue came to light after the woman gave a police complaint on Thursday, following which the police arrested three rapists and two others who abetted the crime.
The police also arrested two persons who tried to provide an illegal settlement for the survivor to cover up the case.
On April 11, when the woman from a Scheduled Caste community was waiting for a bus to return home from work, her schoolmate Kodiyarasan came to the spot on a motorcycle and extended her help to drop her home, said to a report on The Hindu.
The woman who initially refused later agreed to travel with him back home.
However, Kodiyarasan instead of taking her home stopped at a cashew grove and raped her along with his friends. They also reportedly referred to her by her caste name before dropping her off at home.
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The woman on Thursday gave a complaint to the police about the incident.
The police then registered a case under sections of IPC including gang rape, various provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act.
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Following this, the police arrested Kodiyarasan and his friends Kannan and Swaminathan who were involved in the crime. Sukumaran and Tamilarasan for abetting the crime. Velusamy and Selladurai for covering up the crime by helping the accused to get away with the crime through a Kangaroo court hearing.
All of them have been remanded to judicial custody.