Safety crisis in Tamil Nadu? Student with her male friend gang-abducted and raped near Coimbatore Airport, BJP slams Stalin govt

A postgraduate student, who is enrolled at a private college in Coimbatore, was talking to her male friend inside a car when the incident happened.

The accused attacked her friend, forcefully took the woman to a location where they sexually assaulted her.

Police, who were informed by the injured male friend, said the victim is undergoing medical treatment and a search operation to track the accused has been launched.

The injured friend was taken to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital for treatment.

"The sexual assault has taken place, the survivor is under treatment and safe. Seven special teams are searching for the suspects. We shall brief you as soon as there is a breakthrough," a senior cop has been quoted by NDTV.

The incident has triggered a strong response from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with its top state leader K Annamalai ripping apart the ruling DMK over the alleged deteriorating law and situation in the state.

Annamalai wrote on X, "Since the DMK came to power in TN, incidents like these have shown that anti-social elements no longer fear the law or the police. From DMK ministers to police officials, there has been a disturbing pattern of shielding sexual offenders instead of ensuring justice. The DMK government has utterly failed in both preventing sexual crimes and providing safety for women.

"Instead of deploying the police to protect citizens and uphold law and order, the DMK government uses them merely to arrest its critics. As a result, Tamil Nadu finds itself in a state of alarming decline."

"TN CM Thiru @mkstalin, who bears direct responsibility for the law and order, must hang his head in shame for allowing the police force to fall to such a pitiable state," he added.

The ruling DMK said law will take its own course highlighting the state administration "takes stringent action against perpetrators".