Anna University sexual assault: Madras HC appreciates courage shown by survivor to come forward
Advocate General (AG) PS Raman clarified that the commissioner's statement to the media was based solely on the version of the survivor; nowhere did he say there was only one accused, the investigation is under way, he added.
Madras High Court (File)
CHENNAI: Appreciating the courage shown by the sexual harassment survivor to come forward to lodge a case against the offender, the Madras High Court put the onus of her safety on the State, since her identity has been revealed through the leaked FIR.
How can the city police commissioner say there is only one accused in the case when the probe is at a preliminary stage, a vacation bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and V Lakshminarayanan asked the State, while hearing a batch of cases seeking to transfer the investigation to the CBI.
Advocate General (AG) PS Raman clarified that the commissioner's statement to the media was based solely on the version of the survivor; nowhere did he say there was only one accused, the investigation is under way, he added.
Denying allegations about the FIR leak, Raman said the State didn't release it.
The AG also submitted that the rumours being circulated that the accused is a DMK member is false.
Since the accused was booked in 20 other cases, over the past five years, he had been under the police radar; the last case registered against him was in 2019, the AG said, countering the petitioners’ submission that the police failed to monitor the accused.
However, Justice SM Subramaniam objected to the submission and observed it was the duty of the State to prevent the crime as per section 149 of CrPC, so the State cannot expect to be appreciated merely for arresting the accused, said the judge.
Justice Subramaniam also asked why was the accused person hand and leg in a bandage. "How did he get the injury?" he asked.
To this, additional advocate general (AAG) P Kumaresan submitted that the accused suffered a fall and injured himself when he tried to escape from the clutches of the police.
The bench wondered why high profile persons, including police officials, who face sexual harassment and corruption charges, never have such injuries. Accused persons cannot be discriminated against, observed the bench.
The bench further asked how a person booked in 20 criminal cases allowed to roam freely on a prestigious campus like the Anna University for 10 years.
It also directed the university to file a report on actions taken in cases of similar nature and on lapses in protecting students, as out of 70 CCTV cameras on the campus, 56 are not functioning.
The bench posted the matter to Saturday and directed the State to submit a status report on the case.
The petitions were moved by R Varalakshmi, an advocate from the AIADMK, advocate Mohandass of BJP and another advocate A Krishnamurthy, seeking to transfer the investigation to the CBI citing a series of lapses in the probe so far.
The petitioners alleged that the lapses on the part of the police was evident from the leak of the FIR copy on public forums which exposed the identity of the victim, placing her in danger.
It may be noted that the bench initiated suo motu cognisance of the case and directed the registry to place the matter before the Chief Justice of HC for listing the case.