On August 12, when Sulekha (name changed) embarked on a trip from her workplace in Chennai to her native village near Thanjavur, it was to resolve a simple banking issue and collect her postgraduate certificate in Microbiology. A month later, however, the 23-year-old found herself battling trauma as the survivor of gang rape.

 One of the perpetrators was a person known to her and another a distant relative. What she endured was horrific, but it didn't end there. She faced an uphill battle to file a case against the perpetrators, and a hospital denied her treatment.

Legal experts TNM spoke to say Sulekha’s case is a classic example of how insensitive the system can be towards survivors of sexual assault and disrespectful of their rights. In addition, the police and hospital authorities have also broken a slew of guidelines regarding the treatment of sexual assault survivors.

Speaking to TNM, Sulekha recalls in painful detail how she was made to run between three police stations and two hospitals before a first information report (FIR) was registered and a medical checkup was done. “I went to the police station within 1.5 hours to file a case. But my case wasn’t registered until the next morning. I was physically hurt and emotionally drained, but I knew I had to get the case filed no matter what,” she says.

On the morning of August 12, Sulekha reached Thanjavur and went to her college located in Poondi. After collecting her certificates, she headed to the bank – which was at a walkable distance from her house – as her account was locked because of a technical issue. It was on the way to the bank that she met Kavidasan, who is arraigned as the first accused in the case. “He got my number from someone and contacted me a couple of months ago saying he was in love with me. I rejected his proposal but he used to text and call me as a friend. For the past month, we were not in touch with each other and nobody knew that I was coming here. He was surprised when he saw me and followed me to the bank,” Sulekha said.

Kavidasan continued to follow her after she stepped out of the bank and insisted that she hop on his bike, despite her refusal. Believing that he would go away if she reached her house, she rushed towards her home but in vain. “Even as I stepped inside my house, he snatched my passbook, wallet and mobile and asked me to come down. He threatened that he would kill me, if I did not do so. At this point, five others joined him,” she said. This included a 17-year-old minor boy, who is a distant relative of Sulekha.

Subsequently, she was allegedly dragged from her house to a shed, merely metres away from her home. She said that while two men – Velmurugan and Sathish Kumar – guarded the shed, four others - Kavidasan, Thivakar, Praveen and a 17-year-old boy - tried to steal money, in addition to sexually and physically assaulting her. “Kavi asked me to open my Gpay and transfer the money but I gave a wrong password multiple times so that it got blocked. Then he took my ATM card and asked another guy to go to the bank and withdraw the money but I did the same. Kavi beat me with a beer bottle and threatened that he would kill me. However, they stole my earrings,” she said. Following this, she was sexually assaulted by the four men. Sulekha alleged that they took a video of the act and threatened her to stay back in the village. “Kavi said that they would give me Rs 1000 each and that I should have sex with them in return. He threatened me that he would leak the videos, if I disclose this to anyone,” she said.

‘The real struggle began after the rape’

Sulekha says that while the sexual assault has scarred her life, what followed was a horrifying experience. She got medical help close to seven hours after she was sexually assaulted, after travelling for more than 30 kms.

“Immediately after the assault, I got dressed and ran to my home and informed my father about it. He immediately called my brother-in-law. The three of us went to the Pappanadu police station, which is close by. However, they refused to register my case and asked me to write the whole incident,” she said. The woman officer, Inspector Surya, has now been suspended and departmental action initiated against her. As Sulekha could not recall and write the ordeal she went through, the family decided to go to the All Women Police Station (AWPS) in Pattukottai.

The family got on a bus and travelled to Pattukottai AWPS, which is located 14 km away from Pappanadu police station. However, her complaint was not taken up there too, and the officials had allegedly insisted that she go to the Orathanadu AWPS, saying that it was the correct jurisdiction. Further, the police also asked her to go to the government hospital for a medical examination.

Despite knowing that it was a case of gang rape, she was not taken by the police for the medical examination but was asked to go on her own. The ordeal did not end there. When the family reached the Pattukottai GH, both the doctor and the nurses refused to treat her. “I was hurt, unwell and exhausted. I almost fainted. But the hospital staff insisted that I go to the police station first and register a case, and return with the police. They said that since it was a rape allegation, the case should be registered and the police should be present for the examination,” she said.

Now, the family’s priority was to register a police complaint. As advised by the officers in Pattukottai AWPS, they decided to go to the Orathanadu AWPS. The only problem was that it was close to 30 kms away from Pattukottai. The family had to hit the road again and reached the police station by 11 pm. Finally, the police took her to the RMH hospital in Thanjavur for a medical examination.

“It was around 1.30am when the medical examination got over. I was admitted to the hospital and a police officer from Orathanadu police station took my statement,” she said.

The broken guidelines and SOPs

The FIR  was registered at 7am on August 13, 2024 - nearly 16 hours after the crime. It initially named four persons -  Kavidasan, Thivakar, Praveen and the 17-year-old boy - but the names of two others have been subsequently added, according to Orathanadu ASP Shahnaz Illyas. The four have been booked under sections 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 118(1) (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 70(1) (gang rape), 351(3) (criminal intimidation), 308(5) (extortion), and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.

Speaking to TNM, ASP Shahnaz said that departmental action has been taken against all police officers, including SI Surya. All the six accused have been arrested and sections under which the crime has been registered was altered. “Case is under investigation. Procedure for compensation has been initiated and will be processed at earliest. A proposal to slap Goondas Act on the perpetrators is also proposed and is under process,” she added.

Calling the ordeal ‘harrowing’, advocate Deepika Murali says that the police have broken the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) statutes as well. “Survivors have a right to zero FIR; which is, the right to register their case in any police station regardless of the jurisdiction in which it was committed. The idea is to report the crime immediately. But now this has been incorporated into BNSS,” she says.

Section 173(1) of BNSS states that information regarding a cognizable offence “irrespective of the area where the offence is committed, may be given orally or by electronic communication” and if it is given orally, either the informant can write it or the complaint can be written down under their direction and read over to them.

“Further, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has laid down a set of guidelines to handle sexual assault cases, which has also not been followed here,” Deepika added.

MHA’s standard operating procedure (SOP) for investigation and prosecution of

rape against women states that FIR must be registered immediately as the crime is reported by a woman officer. The SOP also clearly states that the survivor can lodge the FIR in “any police station in any state or district” and it can be transferred to the concerned state or police station having jurisdiction for investigation.

Deepika also points out that hospitals cannot refuse treatment to the survivor, especially since she was injured. Stating that while survivors do have the right to medical help and dignified treatment, she adds, “If you are a victim who has gone through something like this, your energy can’t be focused on what the police and hospital staff are doing but on your survival and medical treatment. It is the responsibility of the police and the hospital to take care of the survivor.”