A Kerala police inspector was suspended from his post on Monday for allegedly harassing a woman with lewd questions while she was trying to register a case of gangrape against four men, Manorama reported. Peramangalam Circle Inspector KV Manikandan, who was suspended on the orders of Thrissur Range Inspector General MRA Kumar, has also been accused of forcing the woman to change her statement regarding the assault.
The woman had accused the suspended inspector and several other officers of humiliating her and asking lewd questions regarding the assault while she was trying to file the complaint. One police officer had allegedly asked, "Which one of them [the rapists] gave you the most pleasure?" Referring to other gangrape victims who died after they were attacked, the woman had said they were "fortunate" to have died instead of being made to go through "several rounds of mental rape".
The Thrissur resident had said that two years ago, four of her husband's friends had conned her into believing that he had been admitted to a hospital, before they had driven her away from her home and raped her. She had also named a senior politician as one of the accused. Her husband convinced her to register a complaint after she confided in him.
The woman claimed that she was made to visit the police station for four days and spend several hours there when she decided to file a complaint. "They later gave me a letter to produce before the magistrate and forced me to withdraw the case. They made me sign papers but I don't know what was in it," she had said.
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