The Madras High Court on Friday quashed individual orders passed by Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai, last year for preventive detention of 16 individuals accused in the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl at Ayanavaram here. All the 16 had been branded ‘Goondas’ by the Commissioner.
Allowing a batch of habeas corpus petitions, a Division Bench of Justices C.T. Selvam and R. Hemalatha quashed the preventive detention orders on the technical ground that they had not been passed within 30 days of the arrest of the accused in connection with the crime attributed to them in July last year.
The city had actually booked a total of 17 individuals in connection with the gang rape case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act of 2012.
Aged between 23 and 66, the petitioners were working as plumbers, housekeepers, security guards and lift operators in the complex where the victim — a 11-year-old girl — had been allegedly gang raped by them over a period of seven months by forcibly intoxicating her.
The crime came to light only when the victim opened up to her sister and a case was booked on the basis of a complaint lodged by their mother.
CBI probe sought
Terming it as a completely false case, the accused had approached the High Court last year accusing the local police of trying to fix them and seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation probe.
However, Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira dismissed the petition and directed them to face trial before a Mahila court here.