In an incident that shocked the community in India, a woman was sexually assaulted. The woman had recently come to India from the US on a spiritual trip. A man who called himself a saint allegedly attempted to sexually attack her. However, the brave woman protected herself by attacking him, leaving him bleeding. The shocking incident happened in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu on Sunday.
It has been learnt that the woman came to Tiruvannamalai in March and was planning to return after visiting Ramana Ashram. However, she was stranded here after the government imposed lockdown across India since then she has been staying here. Hence, she had to extend her visa and took a house on rent in the city. She was not stranded by choice but by compulsion.
It was Sunday when the woman came out of her house, the accused approached her and pushed her inside her house and attempted to rape her. The woman who was trained in martial arts managed to defend herself from the attacker who did not expect her to fight back.
She raised an alarm and some locals rushed to the spot and caught the accused immediately and then they handed over him to the police. The man, identified as Manikandan – a native of Namakkal – was roaming around the temple town falsely claiming to be a saint “attempted to sexually assault” the woman, a senior police official said.
“We are questioning him, investigation is going on and nothing more could be divulged now,” he said.
The accused who claims to have visited several spiritual centers across the country had come to Tiruvannamalai earlier this year and was living on handouts from pilgrims visiting the temple town.
Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu is believed to have many ashrams. The place is popular for the ancient Sri Arunachaleswara temple and many spiritually-inclined people have made this town their home.
