His other vow, announced Thursday, was that he would not wear footwear until the DMK was ousted from power – and, accordingly, he was barefoot during his self-lashing.

Tamil Nadu BJP president Annamalai was also seen barefoot following his vow to not wear footwear until the DMK was ousted from power.

The rape of an Anna University second-year student, appallingly inside the campus, has snowballed into a political controversy in Tamil Nadu. The DMK government has been forced to the back foot as the opposition mounted pressure on the government for the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

After Gnanasekaran's arrest, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) have accused the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party. Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai alleged that Gnanasekaran is a DMK worker with a history of similar offenses.

Calling the DMK an “evil force,” Annamalai urged the middle class to rise and question the government. He demanded the sacking of the Chennai city police commissioner or at least the deputy commissioner over the Anna University case.

The BJP leader, showing photographs of the accused with DMK leaders, alleged that he was a ruling party's student wing office-bearer.

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday took suo motu cognisance of the Anna University student sexual assault case. However, it deferred the hearing as the Chief Justice is yet to grant a nod. A division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and V Lakshminarayanan initiated the suo motu petition following a request made by an advocate,

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has claimed that the suspect apprehended for the sexual assault on a 19-year-old student from Anna University in Chennai is a "repeat offender and a DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) functionary".

AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami called for a CBI probe into the rape of a student at Anna University, accusing the DMK of protecting the accused. Palaniswami highlighted the need for strict handling of such crimes and criticized the current government's approach.

The Madras high court on Friday took suo motu cognisance of the case in which a 19-year-old student was sexually assaulted inside the Anna University campus in Chennai earlier this week. A division bench of justices SM Subramaniam and V Lakshminarayanan questioned how the FIR in the case was leaked.

The Madras High Court on Friday questioned as to how Greater Chennai Commissioner of Police A. Arun came to a conclusion, right at the initial stage of investigation, that no one else but for a sole accused was involved in the Anna University sexual assault case.