Chennai lawyers beat up 17 gang-rape accused on court premises

Seventeen persons accused of gang-raping an 11-year-old hearing impaired girl were arrested in Chennai on Tuesday, with some beaten up and dragged down the stairwell of a court by angry lawyers, police said.

Those arrested included a liftman, security guards, plumbers, electricians and other maintenance staff working at the apartment complex in Ayanavaram locality where the girl lived with her family and where she was allegedly sexually assaulted several times.

Amid the shock and outrage over the incident, the accused were arrested and produced before the women's court, where agitated lawyers punched and kicked them, while dragging them down the staircase as they were being escorted out.

The court remanded all the accused in police custody till July 31.

According to the police, the girl was sedated with injections, drug-laced soft drinks and made to sniff a powder by the perpetrators before they sexually assaulted her and videographed themselves in the act.

The Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA) has, meanwhile, said no lawyers will represent the accused in the case and sought "strong punishment" for them.

"The advocates have registered their protest against this incident (sexual assault) by raising slogans against the accused persons. We have decided none of the advocates will appear for them," MHAA president G Mohanakrishnan told reporters.

MHAA's decision will be communicated to other lawyers' bodies also, he added.

The arrests were made on the complaint by the victim's father.

The shocking case of repeated sexual assault came to light after the victim, a class 7 student, narrated her ordeal to her elder sister.

The sister informed their parents about it following which the girl's father lodged a police complaint on July 15.

"The girl has said that she was molested by 11 people and has identified 17 persons (including accomplices of the alleged perpetrators of the crime)," a senior police official said.

The officer said the girl was first sexually assaulted by a lift operator and later several others joined in the crime that continued for months before the victim told her sister about it.

At least four of them have confessed to the assault, while two others said they had molested the girl, the official said.

Police said further investigation is on and CCTV footage of the complex would be examined.

"We are taking it as a special case and working on it," the officer said.

Tension was palpable outside the women's court located on the third floor of the family court premises when the accused were brought for completing the remand proceedings, which lasted four hours till 3 pm.

When the police contingent began escorting them back, around 50 advocates flew into a rage and started beating up the accused. In the melee, eight of them were secured inside an additional family court on the ground floor and nine others rushed back to the women's court, to which they were still confined.

Principal family court judge Dharman, MHAA chief Mohanakrishnan, advocate Kannadasan, joint police commissioner TS Anbu and others were trying to persuade the agitated lawyers to end their protest and allow the accused to be escorted away.

With PTI inputs.