Six arrested on molestation charge

KOLLAM: Six men were arrested on Thursday by the Pallithottam police here on charges of molesting a woman near the Tangasseri lighthouse in the city area the previous week.

The woman was member of a research team from Thiruvananthapuram who had gone to Chavara for studying the Chamayavilakku ritual at a temple where men dress up as women to perform the ritual.

The victim was the only woman in the six member study team. While returning from Chavara they thought of visiting the colonial enclave of Tangasseri to see the vestiges of a Portuguese fort and the lighthouse built by the British.

At the fort precincts a gang accosted them. According to the police, the gang was under the influence of ganja. Seeing a lone woman with five men made the gang jump into conclusions. They demanded the woman go with them. The researchers told them the purpose of their visit and that the woman was married and a mother. But the gang was in no mood to listen to them and soon they began molesting the woman and trying to tear off her clothes. Hearing the cries for help someone from the neighbourhood informed the police who arrived at the scene immediately