Police up the ante against tattoo parlours in Kochi

Kochi: A popular tattoo studio in Kochi has been under the scanner after a post surfaced on Instagram about an 18-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by the main tattoo artist and the owner of the studio on February 19 while tattooing on her body.

The shocking revelation came through the Instagram account of one 'arshooti'. It was learned that 'arshooti' posted the narrative on behalf of the real victim, who wants to remain anonymous. One girl, who knows about the incident, in an Instagram video stated that she does not want to reveal the names of the victims and requested not to call her seeking details in this regard.

Soon after the post came on arshooti's wall, many girls have come out disclosing the bitter experience they had at the studio while tattooing on their body.

The particular studio in Kochi has shut doors and its owner was not available for comments when contacted by a Mathrubhumi.com reporter.

Despite it becoming a controversy, police have not yet registered any case against the owner of the studio in the absence of a formal complaint. In view of the incident, police have started raiding all the tattoo studios in Kochi to examine the involvement of any drug mafia behind and to keep a close watch on the functioning.

“We cannot register a case on the basis of a social media post. We contacted a victim but she was not willing to register a complaint. At least a phone call is enough for us to record the statement and to register the case as there are certain procedures to be followed for registering such cases. The law guarantees the victims utmost privacy and confidentiality, still no one is willing to come up. It may be because of fear or some other reason. We provide maximum encouragement for them to come up,” said CH Nagaraju, Kochi City Police Commissioner.

In the meantime, Kochi police have started collecting the details of all the tattoo studios functioning in the city as part of a preliminary inquiry. The city police commissioner, in an order, directed the heads of all police stations in the city to submit a comprehensive report on the full details of all tattoo studios in the city. The direction is to collect the details of the owner, its license, whether the building is owned or leased, the persons employed etc.

“We are collecting the details of the tattoo studios as a precautionary measure to prevent such crimes in future. It will be easier to nab the culprits if we receive any complaint. As of now, we don't know how many tattoo studios are functioning in the city and there is no data on it. Once this data is ready, monitoring the functioning of these studios will be easier. Concerned station house officers have been entrusted with the duty of collecting the data and I hope we will have it ready soon,” said Nagaraju.

The post of the girl that went viral on social media depicts the harrowing experience in detail. The girl visited the studio with his friend for tattoo work to be done on her lower back. While tattooing, the artist literally raped her with a needle on her back and she could not resist or raise a voice, says the post. She explains why she could not resist the move as, “I just froze and I could not process what the fuck was happening.”

Later, she consulted a lawyer, who is a family friend, and narrated the incident. But she was asked not to move legally in the absence of evidence and eyewitnesses.

Down her post on Instagram, many girls, who faced similar sexual harassment at the studio, came out disclosing their stories. Mathrubhumi.com contacted a few girls among them, but they were not willing to register complaints with the police. A few among them sought time to discuss it with their parents to make a decision whether to go ahead with the complaint or not.

A girl from Kollam told Mathrubhumi.com that in the year 2017 she had a bitter experience at the studio. “I had to get a tattoo on my shoulder and I was in search of a safe and comfortable place for it. By seeing the review on Google, I chose Inkfected studio. I was there with my friends and the tattooing was done in a cabin inside. The cabin was not covered at the top and I was hearing my friends speaking. There was a CCTV camera inside and it was just a fifteen minutes affair. While doing the tattoo, the artist gropped me with his left hand and I was so uncomfortable. While coming out, I told this to my friends but all took it casually. Later, I chose not to go there and preferred another studio for such works for me and my friends.”

This girl was trying to forget the incident completely, but with the new development, she got the courage to disclose it now. “Without the consent of my parents, I cannot go to the police station or register a formal complaint,” said the girl.

In the meantime, the owner of another tattoo studio in Kochi told Mathrubhumi.com that they knew about this, months back. Jayaram, the owner of Infected Monks, said, “It was in December last year, a few girls came to our studio for tattooing. They told us about the particular studio and the bitter experience they had there. They became our clients.”

In the bid to find out what had happened on the day at the studio when the 18-year-old girl arrived for tattooing, Mathrubhumi.com contacted a tattoo artist, named William, working in the studio, he said, “We clearly remember what had happened on the said day and after the social media posts surfaced we cross-checked it again using CCTV footages. It was in the morning when the north Indian girl arrived at the studio with a young man of the same age. They were in the studio for five hours and in the meantime, the wife of the studio owner, came in. They all had a chat together. The owner later left to drop his wife and later came back and continued tattooing. Finally, in the evening they left happily. The girl was happy and I don't think anything bad had happened.”

He also said that the studio owner must be punished if he had committed a mistake, if not, action must be taken against those who tried to ruin the reputation of our firm.