Kerala Tattoo Artist Arrested After Several Women Allege Sexual Harassment, Rape

Two FIRs were lodged against Sujeesh on Friday after 4 women allegedly accused him of sexual harassment and rape.

Several women had recently taken to social media to accuse Sujeesh P S, a well known Kochi based tattoo artist of rape and sexual assault.

(Photo: The Quint)

A Kochi-based tattoo artist Sujeesh P S, who has been arrested after several women raised complaints against him for sexually abusing them while tattooing on their private parts, will be produced before a magistrate on Sunday, 6 March.

Sujeesh was arrested late night on Saturday.

An 18-year-old girl had in a social media post said that he had sexually assaulted her while tattooing on her private parts and after her revelation, five more women came against him stating that he had abused them.

Sujeesh, who was on the run ever since the issue came out, was arrested by the Kochi city police team while he was trying to reach the office of an advocate on Saturday night.

The police have commenced recording the statements of the survivors and also will be taking their medical examination to be submitted before the magistrate under Section 164B of CrPc.

The Kochi city police commissioner, C Nagaraju, while speaking to IANS said, "He was trying to evade the arrest, our team took him into custody and will be taking the statement of the survivors and their medical examination. He will be produced before a magistrate on Sunday itself."

What We Know About the Case

The 35-year-old has been running a studio at Kochi for the past ten years and is a successful tattoo artist. He works for Inkfected Tattoo Studio in Kochi's Edappally area.

Two FIRs were lodged against Sujeesh on Friday, 4 March, after four women allegedly made a complaint with the Kochi City Police Commissioner accusing the artist of sexual harassment and rape. The two cases was registered at Cheranellore and Palarivattom police stations.

After the allegations, his family and friends claimed that the tattooing was done openly and that he had not sexually abused any women.

A close friend of Sujeesh while speaking to IANS said, "Sujesh is innocent and these cases are due to business rivalry and we will take legal recourse on this matter. Nothing much to say other than this."