Anna University sex assault accused gets 30 years in jail
What's the story
The Chennai Mahila court has sentenced accused A Gnanasekaran to life imprisonment for at least 30 years and a fine of ₹90,000 in the Anna University rape case.
A Chennai lower court had convicted Gnanasekaran last week. He was found guilty on all 11 charges against him.
The court determined that the charges were supported by documentary and forensic evidence.
Incident
Incident occured last year
The incident occurred on December 23, 2024, when Gnanasekaran, who ran a biryani stall near the campus, sexually assaulted a woman student on the Anna University campus.
The woman was with a male companion at the time.
According to the police, Gnanasekaran allegedly held her captive for 40 minutes and recorded a video of the assault to use it to blackmail the victims.
Complaint
Gnanasekaran is a known history-sheeter
A police complaint was filed by the survivor and a university professor from the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) committee on the same day.
Gnanasekaran was arrested by Greater Chennai Police two days later.
Gnanasekaran, a known history-sheeter from Kotturpuram, Chennai, had seven pending cases under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Case
Opposition parties accused DMK of having links with Gnanasekaran
The case had spared a major political controversy after photographs of Gnanasekaran with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) functionaries surfaced following his arrest.
Opposition parties, including the AIADMK, had accused the DMK of having links with Gnanasekaran, which the MK Stalin-led party denied.
Amid the pressure, Stalin clarified that Gnanasekaran was a DMK supporter but not a member and assured justice in the case.
FIR
FIR leak controversy
The case also invited another controversy when the Tamil Nadu police uploaded the First Information Report (FIR) on their public website, exposing sensitive details of the survivor's identity, per The News Minute.
Chennai Police Commissioner A Arun later blamed a technical glitch during the transition from IPC to BNS for the leak.
A separate case was registered to probe this breach.