Following the recent life imprisonment sentences handed down to nine individuals in the 2019 Pollachi sexual assault case, AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) has asserted that the verdict is a direct result of actions taken during the AIADMK’s tenure. He criticized the ruling DMK and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin for attempting to claim credit for the outcome.EPS emphasized that the AIADMK government was instrumental in the initial stages of the case, stating, “All the culprits involved in the Pollachi sexual assault case were arrested only during our previous regime. The case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), they investigated it, and the court gave the verdict. What is the role of the DMK government in this case?”
He further contended that if the DMK had been in power at the time, the case might have been mishandled, drawing parallels to other incidents. “Had Stalin dealt with the Pollachi sexual assault case, it would have met the fate of the cases relating to the Anna University sexual assault and that related to the sexual assault of a girl in Anna Nagar,” EPS remarked.
In response, DMK leaders have defended their party’s commitment to justice. Natural Resources Minister S. Regupathy criticized EPS’s remarks, stating that the AIADMK attempted to shield the accused and only acted after pressure from opposition parties. He added, “Only after the agitations by the DMK and other opposition parties, the case was transferred to the CBI, having no other option.”
The Pollachi case, which came to light in 2019, involved a gang that lured women, including college students, into secluded locations under false pretenses, sexually assaulted them, and used videos of the assaults to blackmail the victims. The recent verdict has reignited political debates in Tamil Nadu, with both major parties seeking to position themselves as champions of justice and women’s safety.