In 2019, a sexual assault case from the town of Pollachi in Tamil Nadu shocked India. But the story wasn’t just about the men who committed these crimes. It was about how they were able to keep doing it for years.

In this episode of Missing Context, we look beyond the headlines to understand how trust, shame, blackmail, and social expectations created the conditions that allowed so many women to remain silent. Why was it so difficult to come forward? What fears did the perpetrators exploit? And how did one complaint unravel a case that would expose a much larger pattern of abuse?

This episode examines the human stories behind the Pollachi case, the investigation that followed, and the convictions that finally brought it to court—while asking what the case reveals about power, reputation, and the cost of forced silence.