Madras High Court urged to take suo motu cognisance of sexual offences against children in T.N.

A 73-year-old advocate made a mention before the Madras High Court Chief Justice’s Bench on Wednesday (March 11, 2026) regarding a series of sexual offences being committed against children in Tamil Nadu in recent years and urged the court to initiate a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) petition.

Appearing before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan, advocate A.P. Suryaprakasam referred to latest news reports of a 14-year-old having been gang-raped near Madurantakam in Chengalpattu district on Monday (March 9, 2026) evening.

He said, as per the new reports, the victim was riding pillion, along with a 16-year-old girl, on a motorcycle when the incident occurred. A 17-year-old boy was riding the vehicle and all three of them were travelling from Tambaram to Keelakandai when they were followed by two motorcyle-borne men near Devathur.

When the boy riding the motorcycle attempted to race the vehicle in a bid to escape the chasers, he lost control and all three fell down. While the 17-year-old boy and the 16-year-old girl managed to get back on their feet and escape, the 14-year-old was left behind.

The bike-borne men allegedly dragged the minor girl to a secluded place near Athivakkam lake and raped her. The victim was subsequently admitted to the Chengalpattu government hospital and a case was registered by the All Women Police Station. The police had, thereafter, arrested ‘Kakka’ Balaji, one of the two suspects.

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Mr. Suryaprakasam told the Chief Justice’s Bench that this was not an isolated incident, as there had been many other incidents of sexual offences committed against women and children in the State in recent years. He said, even a two-year-old girl had died due to sexual abuse in Krishnagiri district recently.

According to news reports, the Anchetti police had arrested 40-year-old Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam youth wing office-bearer Periyanayagam for sexually abusing the two-year-old girl, causing her death. Therefore, he urged the court to intiate suo motu proceedings for issuing appropriate directions to the State.

When the judges wanted to know why the lawyer, practising in the High Court for the last 48 years, had not filed a PIL petition regarding the issue, he replied that the First Information Reports (FIRs) in Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act cases were not made public and hence, he was not in possession of those materials.

The judges then asked him to file the petition based on available materials and said that they would consider it appropriately.