CHENNAI: When M Durga Devi first narrated her experience of being caught in the blazing Ice House police station the previous day, she hadn't told the whole truth. the head constable held back nothing, revealing to a team of officers that many of those who set the building ablaze had molested her.
Based on the team's report, police commissioner S George ordered a detailed inquiry. the woman told that she had been standing with five of her colleagues near the barricade in front of the station when nearly 200 men marched towards me. "They hurled stones which left me with injuries to my shoulders. They also grabbed and pushed me around," she said.
Thinking about what may have happened, she said, "Had they cornered me inside the police station, things could have turned ugly. The horror refuses to leave me. They kept targeting me."
The protesters advanced towards the station, Durga Devi and her colleagues stood behind the barricade, trying to stop them. But they were soon overwhelmed and the protesters were all over them. Many in the mob touched her inappropriately and kept hurling stones, she said, adding that the incident had kept haunting her. She could have handled them had they just hurled stones, she said. Soon, the situation went out of control. Durga Devi was among those who ran into the station.Others ran to an adjacent street. The mob damaged the building, poured petrol over it and set it a fire.
In a darkened room, Durga Devi managed to get hold of a wireless and alert the control room. A team arrived after some time, chased away the protesters and pulled her out of the burning station after breaking a window.
