Sexual harassment case: Chennai court issues NBW against retd IPS officer

CHENNAI: A city court on Friday issued a NBW (non-bailable warrant) against retired IPS officer, S Murugan, after dismissing his plea to discharge him from the sexual harassment case against him.

Earlier this year, the State government had allowed Murugan to retire from service on the date of his superannuation, without prejudice to the pending judicial proceedings and the disciplinary proceedings against him.

While he was serving as Joint Director in DVAC (Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption) in Chennai in August 2018, he had allegedly sexually harassed a woman police officer, after which the complaint was referred to the Internal Complaints Committee. A criminal case was booked by the CB-CID and a chargesheet was filed before the trial court.

Murugan was booked under sections including 354 (outraging modesty of woman by criminal force) and section 4 of TNPHW ACT (Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women) among other sections.

On November 15, Xi Metropolitan Magistrate N Sultan Aribeen passed an interim order dismissing Murugan’s plea seeking to discharge him from the case, after observing that the prosecution had prima facie established the facts of the case. “In women harassment cases, if the victim’s statement is cogent, it’s enough to take up the case against the accused as held by higher courts in several cases previously,” he observed, and dismissed the plea, which cited other witness statements not supporting the prosecution’s case.

The accused officer was directed to appear before the court on Friday (Nov 22) for framing of charges. Since he did not appear, the court issued a NBW against Murugan. Next hearing on the case is on January 2.