Form SIT with 3 Women IPS Officers, Says HC

Following the Incident on December 23, the Opposition Parties and Public Staged Protests

- Agencies

NEW DELHI: The Madras High Court on Saturday directed that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising three women IPS officers be constituted to probe the alleged sexual assault case of a 19-year-old student on the Anna University campus.

A bench of justices SM Subramaniam and V Lakshminarayan passed the order after highlighting various omissions in the ongoing probe. They were hearing a plea for transferring the probe into the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The court also directed the state government to pay the survivor a compensation of ₹25 lakh.

It particularly took a serious note of the police "victim blaming" the student in the FIR. "Have you read the FIR? It is an example of victim blaming," the bench told advocate general (AG) PS Raman during the hearing. "The deplorable language of the FIR paves the way for victim blaming. It is shocking," the court said in its order later.

The bench further directed Anna University to not charge any fees from her, noting that the survivor's studies should not be affected.

The student was sexually assaulted on the campus of the premier technical university on December 23, prompting widespread outrage from the Opposition parties and public.