Tamil Nadu woman goes to cops with harassment complaint, they arrest her

The Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women has recommended a probe against two police officials for unlawfully arresting a woman under charges linked to human trafficking and other crimes when she visited a police station with a harassment complaint.
According to the commission’s letter to the Tambaram Police Commissioner, the woman visited a police station in August 2023 to file a harassment complaint against some autorickshaw drivers, who she claimed were harassing her for four months.
The officials at the police station, however, refused to register her complaint and took her picture on their mobile phone, the letter highlighted, adding that they also “commented irresponsibly” about the woman.
When she objected to the behaviour of the police officials, they threatened to arrest her. This led to a quarrel, following which the woman was arrested and sent to judicial custody for five months under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 8 (b) of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
After coming out of jail, the woman informed the commission about the incident, following which the inquiry was recommended against the cops.
While recommending a probe against the two cops, identified as police Inspector Charles and Sub-Inspector Durga, the women’s panel also highlighted that Section 41 CrPC was not followed in the case.
Section 41 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) allows police officers to arrest a person without a warrant or a magistrate’s order in certain circumstances.
“In this case, Tambaram Police certainly disobeyed all the directions, and they have taken stringent steps to arrest a woman and put her into custody for five months,” the commission observed.
In its letter to Tambaram police chief, the women’s panel also added that police could do that only because the victim was a woman.