With the opposition parties training their guns on the DMK Government in the in the sexual assault of a girl student at the prestigious Anna University campus in the heart of Chennai, City Police Commissioner, A Arun ,on Thursday denied any slackness on the part of the police in arresting the accused.

“We are not bothered about the political affiliation of the accused, whichever party he might belong to. Within a day of receiving the complaint, we have arrested the accused, Gnanasekaran, after holding enquiries with many suspects. The victim is safe and secure and she is satisfied about the progress in the case,” the Commissioner told the media.

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The opposition has been alleging that the arrested accused is a functionary of the ruling DMK and he had organised events in which ministers have participated. BJP state president K Annamalai had released photographs of the accused with DMK ministers.

To a query on the FIR getting leaked in the public domain which has put the police in the dock, he said “FIRs are uploaded online. Those who have downloaded it could have shared it on social media.” On the details in the FIR over which questions are raised, his response was that the police are necessarily duty bound to record all the details that the affected give. Now the option of downloading FIRs has been blocked and police have warned of stringent action against those spreading FIRs or posting them on social media.

While crediting the police for swiftly taking action, he said the accused Gnanasekaran was a habitual offender. On the security at Anna University, he said of the 70 CCTV cameras installed in the campus, only 56 are functional. Now, security has been strengthened in the campus in consultation with the university authorities. Anna University, a premier institution for technical education, has been without a VC and the process to find a new one is yet to start due to the ongoing tussle between the Governor-Chancellor and the state government.

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women, taking suo motu cognizance of the sexual assault case, has directed the Tamil Nadu DGP to ensure free medical care to the victim and protection to the victim. In a post on ‘X’, it said Chairperson Vijaya Rathatkar had directed the DGP to add section 71 of BNS to the FIR and take action against officers for revealing the victim’s identity, violating SC guidelines and Section 72 of BNS. Further, she pointed out that the negligence of the police in acting against the accused in previous cases had emboldened him to commit such crimes, raising serious concerns about the collapsing law and order situation in Tamil Nadu.