SI, two constables arrested under POCSO Act in 2023 dismissed from service

Three police personnel of Tiruchi Rural, including a sub-inspector, who were arrested under the POCSO Act in October 2023 on charges of sexually assaulting and harassing a 17-year-old minor girl at Mukkombu, a popular picnic spot near Tiruchi, have been dismissed from service.

V. Varun Kumar, Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Tiruchi Range, issued an order on July 30 dismissing from service SI Sasikumar and constables Prasad and Sitharthan. The order was issued after conducting a detailed inquiry. Sasikumar was serving in Jeeyapuram police station at the time of committing the crime while Prasad and Sitharthan were at the Navalpat and Jeeyapuram Traffic police station respectively.

The inquiry against another constable Sankar Rajapandian, who was arrested in the case, was pending since he was detained under the Goondas Act in connection with another case booked against him by the Adhiramapattinam police station in Thanjavur district on charges of smuggling ganja along with three others, said police sources.

The four police personnel, without informing or seeking permission from superior officers, came in a car in plainclothes and consumed liquor at Mukkombu. The police personnel spotted a 17-year-old minor girl with a 19-year-old youth and threatened them. Two constables assaulted the girl’s lover and chased him.  The girl was forcibly pushed into the car inside which the sub-inspector and Sankar Rajapandian allegedly sexually assaulted and harassed the minor. 

As the girl raised an alarm, the police personnel made her to alight from the car and left the spot. The girl and the youth complained to the police personnel manning the Mukkombu outpost.

Mr. Varun Kumar, who was then the Superintendent of Police of Tiruchi Rural, placed the four police personnel under suspension. Acting on the complaint of the minor girl, the Jeeyapuram All Women Police registered a case under various sections of the POCSO Act and arrested the sub-inspector and the three constables. They were remanded in judicial custody and lodged in the Tiruchi Central Prison, said the police.