Former Special DGP of Tamil Nadu who was accused of sexual harassment by a woman IPS officer has withdrawn a petition he filed in the Supreme Court asking for trial in his case to be shifted out of Tamil Nadu. In his plea, the Special DGP who now stands suspended, stated that he wanted the case to be transferred out of the state on the grounds that the orders of the Madras High Court were biased against him and had quashed his right to a fair trial. The IPS officer had sought that the case be transferred to a Special Magistrate Court in Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore.
The apex court, however, closed suo motu proceedings of the case by the Madras High Court. The HC had taken suo motu cognisance of the case on March 1. In his plea, the officer called for the High Court’s monitoring to be ceased as the chargesheet had already been filed before the trial court. Alleging ‘stigma’ after repeated court orders by the Madras HC, he stated, “The High Court lost sight of the most basic golden rule of natural justice - audi alteram partem (hear the other side) - while passing grave prejudicial orders against the petitioner even to the extent of sternly directing his immediate suspension from the rank of Special Director General of Police (Law & Order), Tamil Nadu.”
The Supreme Court also set aside the August 2 order of the Madras High Court directing the Villupuram Chief Judicial Magistrate to conduct day-to-day proceedings and complete the sexual harassment trial by December 20, 2021. The case will be tried by the Villupuram Chief Judicial Magistrate, however there need not be day-to-day proceedings.
The suspended top cop was accused of sexual harassment by a female Superintendent of Police. Further two other police officers have been named in the FIR for preventing the survivor from lodging a formal complaint against the accused. The High Court, on March 1, took suo motu cognisance of the matter and criticised the accused officer for using his position and contacts to coerce the survivor into not filing a complaint. The court then directed the CB-CID to investigate the matter.