Coimbatore gang-rape: a hang-out for anti-social elements that turned into a crime scene

The vacant and deserted areas along a mud road connecting Brindhavan Nagar near the Coimbatore International Airport and SIHS Colony have long been the hang-outs of anti-social elements at night.

The place saw unusual movement of police vehicles and searches by police personnel on Sunday night, after a 20-year-old college student was allegedly gang-raped by three men.

The student and her male friend were targeted by the assailants around 11 p.m., when they were in a car on a vacant land, hardly 100 metres from the compound wall of the airport’s runway.

Residents said anti-social elements occupy the vacant areas at night for drinking, substance abuse, and other activities, due to which there are less takers for the mud road after 9 p.m. Incidents of robbery and assault had also been reported from the area.

“There is no patrolling of the road by the police at night, due to which anti-social elements hang out at these places. The people are afraid to pass through the road. There are no lights, as it is a path through vacant land that the people use to ease travel between Avinashi Road and SIHS Colony,” a shop owner on Brindhavan Nagar Road said.

A resident of the locality, who sought anonymity, claimed that some police personnel on patrol showed leniency when they found persons consuming alcohol in the open space or indulging in other activities.

BJP cadre, led by Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan, staged a protest in front of the South Taluk office on Monday evening, condemning the Tamil Nadu government and the police over the incident, and accusing them of not ensuring the safety of women.

Holding pepper spray and torches, the cadre demanded the arrest of those involved in the alleged gang rape of the college student.

Illegal bar ransacked

Members of the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) ransacked an illegally run bar, located around 500 metres from the scene of the crime.

The party cadre staged a protest in front of the building from where a bar functioned until two years ago. They alleged that the closed bar continued to sell liquor. The police reached the spot and took Saravanan of Pudukottai, who was allegedly selling liquor, into custody.