Kamal Haasan condemns Combaitore minor girl murder, Pa Ranjith urges Tamil Nadu CM Vijay to take urgent measures

Two men have been arrested for sexually assaulting and murdering a 10-year-old girl in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore.

A 10-year-old girl was sexually assaulted and brutally killed in Coimbatore, leading to shock and outrage across Tamil Nadu, and Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Saturday promised strict action following opposition uproar. A 33-year old man, who allegedly committed sexual assault has been arrested under POCSO and for other offences including murder and his accomplice has been nabbed for criminal conspiracy, police said.

What Kamal Haasan said

Actor Kamal Haasan has condemned the incident. Taking to his X account, he wrote, “The incident of a 10-year-old girl being sexually assaulted and murdered near Sulur is heart-wrenching. The perpetrators must be brought to justice through a fast-track court and awarded the maximum punishment. The family, shattered by grief, thinking of the cruelty inflicted on their little one, must be provided with appropriate compensation. Crimes against children and women must be crushed with an iron fist.”

Meanwhile, filmmaker Pa Ranjith tagged Tamil Nadu CM Vijay with a special request to take up the issue of safety of children and women in a legal manner. He wrote on X in Tamil, “The shocking incident of a 10-year-old girl from Sulur, under the Coimbatore district, being abducted, subjected to sexual assault, and brutally murdered has shaken the entire state of Tamil Nadu. This is an inconsolable grief for the affected family in every way. The perpetrators involved have been arrested; assurances have also been given that they will receive the appropriate punishment. But this government announcement cannot simply brush past this brutality. In the recent elections, crimes against women and children were a key talking point. Assurances were given that they would be addressed through a change in government.”

‘Urgent measures must be taken to ensure the safety of children and women’

He added, "Even though the government of @TVKVijayHQ has been in power for just two weeks, such crimes can no longer be cited as an excuse under any circumstances. Urgent measures must be taken to ensure the safety of children and women. Legally and socially, this must be approached in every possible way, and preparations for it must be intensified—this is what Neelam Cultural Center @Neelam_Culture urges the Tamil Nadu government @CMOTamilnadu @CollectorCbe to do. We extend our deepest condolences and comfort to the family of the little boy who lost his life in this inhuman brutality. We too share in their sorrow."

Meanwhile, CM Vijay termed the incident as "horrific," and said such inhuman and unforgivable criminal acts can never be tolerated. "I share my deepest condolences with the family of the girl," he said in a statement.

Referring to the arrest of the two persons, he said the Tamil Nadu government will act firmly to ensure that those who engage in such heinous acts against women and children receive severe punishment under the law. "All immediate and necessary actions for this will be taken," he asserted.

An official police release said during probe, the main accused confessed to luring the girl and sexually assaulted her and then strangled her to death in a coconut grove near a pond. It also emerged that R Mohan (30) abetted the crime by assisting the accused and he was also arrested. He has been remanded in judicial custody.