'Tried expeditiously, severe punishment': Tamil Nadu CM orders swift action in sexual crime cases

NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay on Monday directed police to promptly register sexual crime cases, speed up investigations and ensure “severe punishment” for those involved in heinous offences, following the alleged sexual assault and murder of a 10-year-old girl in Coimbatore.Duringa meeting with senior officials, Vijay stressed that crimes against women and children must be dealt with strictly and directed the Advocate General to expedite trials in such cases."Sexual assault cases should be tried expeditiously and the culprits given severe punishment by conducting the case properly so as to serve as deterrent to others," Vijay directed officials, according to a state government release.The chief minister also asked officials to ensure precautionary measures and awareness in cases related to crimes against women and children.The alleged sexual assault and murder of the girl in Coimbatore's Sulur has sparked outrage across Tamil Nadu. Two men, including an acquaintance of the victim, have been arrested in connection with the case.On Sunday, Vijay spoke to the girl's family over the phone. Further investigation is under way.The review meeting at the state Secretariat was attended by chief secretary M Saikumar, home secretary K Manivasan, advocate general Vijay Narayan, social welfare and women's rights department secretary Mariam Pallavi Baldev, director general of police Sandeep Roy Rathore and other senior officials.The meeting also came amid mounting criticism from opposition parties over the law and order situation in the state under the TVK government, following a series of murders and sexual crimes reported in recent weeks.Leader of the opposition in the assembly Udhayanidhi Stalin claimed that 25 murders, four double murders and 19 sexual assault cases had been reported in Tamil Nadu in the last 15 days."These incidents stand as evidence of how the law and order has changed under the rule of those who came to power promising to usher in transformation," Udhayanidhi said on X.He further alleged that even before outrage over the Sulur incident had subsided, another sexual assault against a minor girl was reported in Villupuram, a teenage boy was murdered in Madurai and a petrol bomb was hurled at a woman's house in Coimbatore."Respected Chief Minister Sir, is this Tamil Nadu or Uttar Pradesh? Where has your Singapen Special Task Force for women safety gone?" Udhayanidhi asked.Former Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai also attacked the government. "What you see in this video is the blood stains of a young boy who was brutally murdered by a gang of five near the Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai," Annamalai said in a post on X."Drug peddlers, sexual assaulters, and murderers have a free pass in Tamil Nadu. The state police seem to have learnt no lessons from the past, and the new TVK govt is yet to emerge from its celebratory mode and confront the grim realities unfolding on the ground," he added.