Student’s mother harassment: FIR against Sankar Baba quashed

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court quashed an FIR filed against self-styled godman Shiva Sankar Baba aka N Shivasankaran in a case filed on a complaint of a woman who alleged that she was sexually harassed by the accused.

Justice RN Manjula passed the order on disposing of a petition filed by Shiva Sankar Baba. The petitioner sought direction to quash the FIR filed by the CB-CID police.

According to the petitioner’s counsel, the alleged incident was said to happen between 2010 and 2011 but the complaint was lodged only in 2021.

“The case itself is totally barred by limitation because of the expiry of the prescribed time limit under Section 468 CrPC. The cases were filed under Section 354 IPC and Section 4 of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women. Since more than three years have lapsed during the filing of a complaint, the case filed under the above sections is clearly barred by limitation, ” the petitioner submitted.

Recording the submissions, the judge held that the Supreme Court has laid down the law by stating that the petition to condone the delay should be filed at the time of giving the complaint itself.

“Though the allegations made by the second respondent are serious in nature, because of the absence of any petition under Section 473 CrPC to condone the delay filed along with the complainant, the case becomes barred by limitation, ” the judge held and quashed the FIR citing the technical flaws in the case.

The case of the prosecution is that when the school management of the accused removed the complainant woman’s son from the school, she went to the accused and requested him to admit her son into the school.

At the time, the accused sexually misbehaved with her. Initially, she, being a single mother, was afraid of lodging a complaint in 2011. As many people raised sexual harassment complaints against the baba in 2021, she came forward to file a case then.