Dr Subbiah Shanmugam, the former National President of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), has been arrested by Chennai police in connection with a complaint alleging that he harassed a woman neighbour by urinating at her front door and spreading trash outside her home.
The claimed incident occurred in July 2020, following an argument between Subbiah and the victim over a parking lot. The Adambakkam police had arrested Subbiah, who was also the chairman of the Department of Surgical Oncology at Kilpauk Medical College at the time, after a complaint from the 60-year-old victim and her family.
Following a public uproar, police lodged a First Information Report (FIR) roughly two weeks after receiving the complaint. Subbiah was charged under the Indian Penal Code's sections 271 (disobedience to quarantine regulation) and 427 (mischief causing damage), as well as the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Women Harassment Act.
The woman's relatives, however, claimed that she was forced to sign a complaint withdrawal letter just hours after the lawsuit was filed. Neighbours in the building allegedly put pressure on her family not to take the case any further. Despite the withdrawal, police said they would have to continue their investigation because an FIR had been filed.
Subbiah was caught on camera urinating in front of the door
In July 2020, the victim claimed she had been harassed by a neighbour, who had put garbage outside the front door. Her family placed a CCTV camera, presuming it was Subbiah, with whom she had previously battled over a parking space, and captured film of a man urinating on her door. While the woman's relatives claimed Subbiah was in the video, he denied it and claimed the footage was doctored. The issue had become politicised, with the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) calling for action against the ABVP leader and the victim's family stating that authorities were hesitant to act because of the doctor's political links.
