The Supreme Court on 18 November 2024 established a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct a thorough, day-to-day investigation into the sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl in Chennai’s Anna Nagar on 29 September 2024. The SIT includes DIG-rank IPS officer Saroj Kumar Thakur and women IPS officers Ayman Jamal and S. Brinda, selected based on seniority from a pool of nine IPS officers.
The bench, comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan, modified an earlier Madras High Court order that had transferred the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Tamil Nadu had contested the High Court’s decision, and the Supreme Court opted for an SIT to ensure a timely and effective probe. “If the probe gets entrusted to the CBI, no one will know what the outcome is even after five to seven years,” the bench observed.
The Supreme Court directed the Tamil Nadu government and the Director General of Police (DGP) to partially relieve the SIT officers of other responsibilities to focus on the investigation. The SIT has been tasked with submitting weekly progress reports to the Madras High Court.
Monitoring And Observations
The bench requested the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court to constitute a bench to monitor the periodic progress reports. Although Tamil Nadu’s counsel, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, requested the Supreme Court to first review the SIT’s initial status report before delegating monitoring to the High Court, the apex court declined.
Rohatgi also expressed concerns over the political exploitation of the case and urged the court to restrain political parties from making inflammatory statements. However, the bench advised the state to ignore such remarks, stating, “If we say anything, there will be numerous clarifications on how statements were distorted.”
Support For Survivor’s Family
The Supreme Court directed the Tamil Nadu government to pay ₹75,000 to the survivor’s mother to cover litigation and miscellaneous expenses within a week. The survivor’s mother, accompanied by her lawyer R. Sampath Kumar, was present in the courtroom during the proceedings.
Background And High Court’s Findings
The disturbing case centers on the brutal sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl in Chennai, which remained hidden for almost a week before coming to light on 29 August 2024. The incident was revealed when the child’s mother, a cook by profession, sought medical attention for her daughter, who was suffering from severe stomach pain. At Kilpauk Medical College, doctors discovered signs of repeated sexual assault, triggering the filing of a First Information Report (FIR) at the Anna Nagar all-women police station on 30 August 2024. The police named a 31-year-old water delivery man, Satish, as the primary suspect in the case.
Despite the gravity of the crime, there were serious delays and lapses in the police investigation. The accused, Satish, was not arrested until 12 days later after media reports brought attention to the case. This delay fueled allegations that the authorities were attempting to downplay the case and avoid public scrutiny. In the wake of these accusations, the victim’s mother came forward with shocking claims that she had been mistreated by the police during the investigation, including allegations of physical assault by a police inspector named Raji.
The Madras High Court, on 10 September 2024, took suo motu cognizance of a case involving the repeated sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl in Tamil Nadu, following allegations of police misconduct and procedural violations. The victim’s mother claimed she was assaulted by police and that her daughter’s statement was recorded improperly, breaching POCSO Act guidelines. The court criticized the police for targeting YouTuber Maridhas and journalist A. Selvaraj with FIRs over leaked case details, instead of investigating the source of the leak, calling it an attack on press freedom.
On 1 October 2024, the Madras High Court had ordered a CBI probe, citing delays and police harassment of the survivor’s family. Despite the severity of the crime, which involved repeated sexual assault of the minor, the primary suspect was arrested 12 days after the incident. The court condemned police procedural violations in handling the victim’s statement, noting breaches of the POCSO Act. The child was interrogated late at night in a hospital without her mother, and no trauma-informed forensic interview was conducted, risking the integrity of her testimony by failing to ensure a child-friendly environment.
(With inputs from Times Of India)
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