CHENNAI/THENI: Forest minister Dindigul Sreenivasan on Thursday told the Tamil Nadu Assembly that an RDO inquiry revealed that forest officials had not misbehaved with tribal women in Theni district. Replying to a question raised by DMK MLA Stephen, who said tribal women had alleged that foresters misbehaved with them while they were in the forest area in Theni district, the Minister said “ The forest officials were merely watching the tribals who were going into the forests. There was no such incident as is being alleged. Only the tribals have ransacked a police station.” Meanwhile, Theni police on Thursday filed an FIR against four forest officials for allegedly harassing tribal women in a public place by removing their upper garments on Suruli road near Cumbum on July 16. The tribal women on Monday filed a complaint with Theni Superintendent of Police V. Baskaran against forest officials for harassing them in public place. Following this, CPI(M) members demanded police action against forest officials.

RDO Anandhi and Uthamapalayam DSP Annamalai conducted separate probe and recommended that police file FIR against the four forest officials. CPI (M) secretary G. Ramakrishnan said six women, including a minor girl, were sexually assaulted by forest officials. “In the name of enquiry, the RDO has threatened the women not to reveal the incident to anyone else.” TNTA vice president P. Shanmugham demanded a free and fair investigation into the alleged incident. The association president P. Dillibabu presented a memorandum to Ravi Thakur, vice-chairman, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.