One more complaint of sexual harassment has been raised against Kochi based tattoo artist Sujeesh PS, who was arrested on 5 March after multiple women complained of sexual violence.
The new complaint is from a foreign citizen who came to India in 2019 and visited Sujeesh’s tattoo parlour, Inkfected, to get a tattoo. A complaint has been sent to the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Ernakulam (Law and Order) and the petition has been accepted.
“The FIR will be registered likely under the sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), and 354 A(1)(i) (sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code,” says Raghul Sudheesh, lawyer of the foreign national.
The woman had come to Ernakulam to do a short course for a couple of months, and towards the end of her course, decided to get a tattoo below her chest. Her friend was there with her in the room initially. However, when the friend later went out, Sujeesh allegedly started to remove her T-shirt and then asked her to take off her bra.
She was unsure if this was necessary but thought it’s part of the procedure. Sujeesh then allegedly began touching her inappropriately, and she felt uncomfortable. She texted her friend to come back. However, Sujeesh allegedly sent the friend away to buy some food since the tattoo would take a few hours.
He allegedly continued to touch her inappropriately and she just wanted to get it over with and get out of there. The woman has since been traumatised. She has returned home to her country; when she learned of the #MeToo movement against Sujeesh, she wanted to be a part of it.
The alleged assault follows the same pattern as the ones described by multiple women who spoke out about the sexual harassment and assault they faced at Sujeesh’s studio. Every time, he would allegedly ask the client to remove a part of their clothes on the pretext of making the tattooing and cleaning process easier. He would allegedly touch or grab them inappropriately, and later reduce the price of the tattoo.
The #MeToo statements against Sujeesh began after an 18-year-old revealed her experience of alleged rape on a Reddit post. A number of other women soon shared similar experiences and went to the police. Two FIRs were registered against Sujeesh before he was arrested.
(Published in arrangement with The News Minute.)
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