india

Updated: Jun 21, 2019 23:00 IST

Four men allegedly molested an 18-year-old Dalit women in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district on Thursday night, with police saying the main accused is the victim’s colleague, who stalked her and belonged to a higher caste.

The victim sustained injuries and is under treatment at Puducherry’s Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER). The police say the four men molested her, and attempted to rape her, but the family of the victim maintains that she was raped.

The police arrested the main accused, Arul Jothi, and are searching for the other three suspects. Two cases have been filed under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities act and section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (outraging a woman’s modesty). Jothi was produced before the Villupuram district magistrate court on Friday and sent to custody for 15 days. The victim’s parent have alleged she was gang-raped but Villupuram district superintendent of police S Jayakumar said medical reports indicated the woman was not raped. “We have received a report from JIPMER. It clearly says that she was molested by the gang,” added Jayakumar.

“During the probe, Jothi said he and three friends beat and molested the 18-year-old girl,” said a sub-inspector involved in the investigation on condition of anonymity.