A Chennai Mahila Court’s verdict on Monday in the Anna University sexual assault case, which sentenced the convict to life imprisonment for a minimum of 30 years without remission, has triggered a war of words between Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK and the main Opposition party, AIADMK.

The court found Gnanasekaran, a DMK supporter, guilty of sexually assaulting a second-year student on the university campus in December last year. Mahila Court Judge M Rajalakshmi, who convicted him on May 28, handed down ₹90,000.”>sentences under 11 separate charges and imposed a fine of ₹90,000.

AIADMK raises ‘sir’ question

AIADMK leader and Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami accused chief minister MK Stalin and his government of trying to shield another individual allegedly linked to the incident, reportedly referred to only as “Sir” in the FIR.

In a post on ‘X’, the LoP reacted strongly to the verdict, “In this case, the Stalin-led DMK government undertook numerous covert actions to protect the accused, DMK’s Gnanasekaran,” Palaniswami wrote in Tamil.

He added, “Defying all such efforts, through continuous struggle–from public forums to social media–AIADMK has succeeded in ensuring punishment for one of the accused in this case.”

Palaniswami welcomed the verdict. However, he questioned the investigation’s integrity, citing the “unexplained reference” to “Sir” in the FIR.

“Who is that, SIR? Who is the SIR mentioned in the FIR? Why was that SIR ruled out during the investigation? Why did the DMK government rush to conclude this case with only Gnanasekaran being named guilty? Who saved SIR?” Palaniswami’s post read.

Tamil Nadu CM fires back

In a sharp dig at the opposition, Tamil Nadu CM accused them of “merely pretending to care about women’s safety,” adding that the probe was conducted in such a manner that the High Court had praised it.

MK Stalin’s post in Tamil said, “The case concluded within just five months and resulted in a severe sentence for the perpetrator. Now that the verdict has been delivered, the Women’s Court itself has commended the police for their excellent handling of the case.”

He further accused the Opposition leaders of “politicising” the incident, saying, “The attempts by a few narrow-minded individuals to seek political gain even in an injustice suffered by a young woman have been completely shattered by this outcome, ” Stalin added.