Chennai court convicts man in Anna University sexual assault case
A Chennai court on Wednesday convicted a man for the sexual assault of a student on the campus of Anna University, Live Law reported.
Judge M Rajalakshmi of the Chennai Mahila court found the man, Gnanasekaran, guilty on all 11 charges filed against him, The News Minute reported. He was convicted under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to rape and sexual harassment.
The court will deliver the sentence on June 2. Gnanasekaran has requested leniency from the court on his sentencing, citing his responsibilities toward his mother and daughter, according to Live Law .
On December 23, Gnanasekaran had allegedly filmed the student and her partner on the university campus and threatened to leak the footage to the dean and the couple's parents if they did not comply with his demands.
Gnanasekaran then allegedly took the complainant to a remote location where he first blackmailed her before sexually assaulting her. The first information report filed in the case stated that the accused had illegally detained the student for 40 minutes.
Before fleeing the scene, Gnanasekaran also demanded the complainant's phone number and said that she should meet him whenever he called.
Gnanasekaran, who ran a roadside eatery near the campus, was arrested by the Greater Chennai Police two days after the incident. The police had said that at least seven other cases were pending against him.
The case had also sparked a controversy after the FIR based on the complaint was leaked online, revealing the identity of the student.
Stating that this had caused the student 'trauma and humiliation', the Madras High Court directed the Tamil Nadu government on December 28 to provide Rs 25 lakh in compensation to her. The bench also called it a serious failure on the part of the police.
In addition, the High Court had constituted an all-woman Special Investigation Team to probe the case. The team filed a chargesheet with the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Saidapet on February 25, The News Minute reported. The case was later moved to the Mahila court in Allikulam.
The High Court had also expressed shock over the language used in the FIR, stating that it amounted to victim-shaming, and directed the Tamil Nadu Police to conduct a departmental inquiry into the leak.
However, the Supreme Court in January stayed the High Court order on the inquiry. Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Siddharth Luthra, representing the Tamil Nadu government, had attributed the leak to a technical glitch.
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