Actor-turned-politician and chief of Makkal Needhi Maiam Kamal Haasan on Thursday, 14 March, attacked the Tamil Nadu ruling party over its alleged links and inaction in connection with the Pollachi sexual assault case.
In a video posted on his Twitter, Haasan said, “When the Nirbhaya gang rape case happened, the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said that harshest of punishments will be given to people who sexually abuse and rape women.”
A gang of four men had on 12 February allegedly tried to strip the woman inside a car near Pollachi, over 500 km from here, and had shot a video of the act and blackmailed her using the visuals.
The four accused in sexual harassment case --Sabarirajan, Thirunavakkarasu, Sathish and Vasanthkumar are under judicial custody and were booked under various sections of the IPC, Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act and the Goondas Act.
Nagaraj, the expelled AIADMK functionary is one of the accused in the assault case besides Senthil, Babu, Manivannan and Vasanthakumar.
“While the government is denying that there is link between the AIADMK and the accused, they are not promising punishment to the perpetrators with the same firmness. Why is this?”Kamal Haasan
He said that now the government is run in Jayalalithaa’s name. “How can they (government) be so careless?”
He also questioned about the police’s “mistake” of revealing the name of the survivor and government’s silence.
“The SP who is investigating the case has admitted that he revealed the name of the survivor ‘by mistake.’ Not only did he go against the law, by revealing her name, the government is also silent about it,” Haasan said.
“The suvivor’s video is leaked. But, how is it leaked when the Police is saying that the accused have deleted the videos? Who released these videos? Why did they release these videos?”Kamal Haasan
‘There’s a Limit to Everything’
Directing questions at Chief Minister E Palaniswami, Haasan asked what has the government done for the survivors and women’s safety.
“The ministers have kept the photo of ‘Amma’ in their pockets. The one who stood for women’s safety. But what has the government done for the survivor? You are even threatening the students who are staging protests against this brutality.”Kamal Haasan
“Mr Chief Minister, all these questions are for you. There is a limit for everything,” he said.
He said that he is not questioning the government as a politician but as a father of two daughters, as to what is it going to do to rectify all these missteps? “How will you assure all those women who are scared that their video will be released, if they file a complaint?,” he asked.
How will the government convey that it will not spare anyone who commits crimes against women? When will the government do this? Why are you waiting? Are you waiting for the elections to be over?Kamal Haasan
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