Woman Assaulted On Road In Kerala, 2 Police Officers Suspended

Two civil police officers of Kerala Police were suspended on Monday for their alleged lapses in handling an assault case in the city that took place on March 19 in Thiruvananthapuram, the official said.

Jayaraj and Ranjith, CPOs of Pettah station, were suspended for failing to collect the statement of a woman who was attacked by a yet-to-be-identified man and also for delay in informing the matter to the higher authorities.

A woman faced sexual assault when she reached the general hospital around 10.30 pm on Sunday to purchase medicine. Though she filed a complaint with Pettah police, the cops on duty there ignored her complaint.

According to the woman's complaint, a stranger attacked her when she was leaving for home on her two-wheeler after purchasing medicine from a store. The woman tried to escape from the attacker and drove at a high speed. But she was brutally attacked by the man who chased down her. She suffered severe injuries on her left eye and cheek as the attacker thrashed her head against a compound wall.

She further said that even though she cried loudly for help, nobody came out of their houses.

"Two ladies in the upstairs of her opposite house and security of a nearby building were watching all this. But no one came to help," she said.

Civil Police officers Ranjith and Jayaraj who attended the complaint were suspended from service based on the special branch report.

The two police officials neither recorded the statement of the woman who was hospitalised nor reported the matter to their higher officials.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)