HC pulls up police over lethargy in filing counter
Though the couple provided her a separate room with attached bathroom and treated her well, she backstabbed them by lodging a complaint alleging that they tortured her, argued the counsel.
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court expressed its displeasure at the police department adopting a lethargic manner in filing the counter to the bail plea moved by MLA I Karunanidhi’s son and daughter-in-law. The couple is booked for allegedly physically abusing their 18-year-old domestic worker.
By being lethargic in filing counter to the couple’s bail plea, the police were defying the petitioners’ right, said Justice M Nirmal Kumar. After the State advocate sought time to file the counter, the judge posted the matter on Friday for orders.
Claiming that the couple, Anto Madhivanan and Marlena Ann, treated the girl as a member of the family, their advocate, senior counsel R John Sathyan, submitted a photograph taken during her birthday that the couple had celebrated at their farmhouse. He also submitted the BBA admission papers of the complainant and said the couple had enrolled her to pursue higher education, and paid the tuition fee as promised.
Though the couple provided her a separate room with attached bathroom and treated her well, she backstabbed them by lodging a complaint alleging that they tortured her, argued the counsel. He also alleged that the girl was in a romantic relationship with a boy, which the couple told her mother. Irked by that, the girl wanted to quit the job to live on her own, he claimed.
Objecting to the submission, the victim girl’s advocate BB Mohan said that she joined as a domestic staff at the accused’s house only to pursue her higher studies, as her family couldn’t afford it. She is a studious student who secured 433 out of 600 marks in her Class 12 board exam. Though the couple promised to enrol her in BSc microbiology course as she wished, they enrolled in BBA, he said.
As the accused are influential persons with political background, the police were not investigating the case properly, Mohan alleged, adding that no mandatory provisions were complied with. The counsel also raised suspicion over the investigation process, claiming that the assistant commissioner who is the investigation officer did not take cognisance of the 29 videos that she has to prove the torture that she underwent.
The girl was a minor at the time of the torture, and hence the case should be altered to include sections under Pocso Act and Bonded Labour Abolition Act, he submitted.
