DMK president M.K. Stalin on Monday promised to set up special courts to hear cases related to violence against women in the State “when the DMK comes to power next year”.
Flagging off the candle-light march of the party’s women’s wing, led by MP Kanimozhi at Little Mount towards the Raj Bhavan on Monday evening against the alleged gang-rape of a girl in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Stalin said that Tamil Nadu, too, had seen a rise in crimes against women under the AIADMK government.
“Uttar Pradesh is number one in violence against women. But Tamil Nadu is in second place. Under this AIADMK government, sexual assaults happened in Pollachi. Have any of the women got any justice? No. That is because those involved are related to people in the ruling party. What happened was that the police arrested a woman for giving a complaint. That is the sad state of affairs here,” Mr. Stalin charged.
Kanimozhi slams BJP
Slamming the BJP, Ms. Kanimozhi said following the Nirbhaya gang-rape case, several laws had been passed to protect women, but the police had failed to act as per these laws. “After the BJP came to power, violence against women, dalit women and children have increased in the country. A CM [Yogi Adityanath] who is keen on saving cows is not protecting women and girl children,” she charged.
She said the BJP was making false claims that there was no rape, no caste-based violence in the case and were instead casting aspersions on the victim.
“This is what the BJP, RSS is doing to women in the country. This anti-women, anti-people BJP government must be thrown out. The Edappadi Palaniswami government here, which supports the BJP, will soon be thrown out,” she said.
As the rally began, police personnel prevented them from proceeding towards Raj Bhavan and detained them near the Saidapet court complex. When the police tried to whisk them away in a bus, cadres squatted on the road and prevented the bus from being moved.
Ms. Kanimozhi descended from the bus and asked the cadre to disperse. Later, the police took her and the protesters and detained them in a community hall. Traffic was completely affected on Anna Salai from Nandanam to Guindy due to the protest.
The Congress, too, held protests across the State. TNCC president K.S. Alagiri led the protest at Kattumannarkoil.
Court-monitored probe
Mr. Stalin said he was not sure whether the CBI will carry out a fair probe in the Hathras case and demanded that a probe be conducted under the supervision of the court. In a statement, Mr. Alagiri too demanded that an investigation into the Hathras case be done by a Supreme Court monitored team.
