'India a holy land, now a land of rapists,' says Madras HC

Chennai: The Madras High Court on Thursday commented that the holy 'Bharathabhoomi' (India) has now turned into "a land of rapists" where a rape occurs every 15 minutes.

The court was hearing a case relating to migrant labour filed by advocate A.P. Suryaprakasam. At that point the advocate pointed to the rape of a migrant worker from Assam in Tamil Nadu's Tiruppur district.

"I had pleaded with the court to provide shelter and care for the affected woman and also to direct the Director General of Police to set up a special investigation team headed by a Deputy Inspector General. I had also prayed to the court to direct the government to provide her financial assistance under the victims' compensation scheme," Suryaprakasam told IANS.

Suryaprakasam told the court that sexual predators are targeting women from vulnerable sections of the society such as migrant workers, unsound minds, mentality challenged girls, the poor and the downtrodden.

Such predators use the victim's disadvantaged position in society like poverty and lack of support due to which they are not able to get justice.

He said in the case of affected migrant workers, they would go back to their native place and the culprits would roam around free targeting their next victim, Suryaprakasam said.

While granting all his prayers, the court observed that "Bharathabhoomi", a holy land, has now become a land of rapists, where a rape occurs every 15 minutes.

Five persons had allegedly raped a 22-year-old migrant worker from Assam in Tiruppur district.

The victim was staying in Coimbatore and had approached a person called Rajeshkumar in Tiruppur for a job.

The latter promised her work in Tiruppur in a garment unit and asked her to come to his residence.

Later after hunting for a job unsuccessfully, Rajeshkumar is said to have asked his brother Raju to drop her in the bus stand.

However, Raju took her to an isolated place where four of his friends were already there and they raped the woman.

Meanwhile the police have arrested three persons in connection with the case and are hunting for the remaining three accused.