The Kozhikode District and Sessions court judge who said that a woman was wearing provocative dresses while granting bail to a man accused of sexual harassment has been transferred. Judge S Krishnakumar has been transferred to the labour court in Kollam according to an order signed by the registrar general of the Kerala High Court. Manjeri district and sessions judge Muralee Krishna S has been appointed as Kozhikode District and Sessions judge.
Judge S Krishnakumar granted two anticipatory bails to writer and activist Civic Chandran in two sexual harassment cases against him. The Sessions Court had observed that the offence under sexual harassment is not prima facie attracted in one case as the woman wears a "sexually provocative dress", and this had sparked widespread controversy. TNM had reported that the pictures handed over to the judge were not even from the day the alleged incident occurred.
"The photographs produced along with the bail application by the accused would reveal that the de facto complainant herself is exposing to dresses which are having some sexually provocative one. So, sexual harassment under IPC 354A will not prima facie stand against the accused (sic),” the judge said.
"Even admitting that there was a physical contact, it is impossible to believe that a man aged 74 and physically disabled can forcefully put the de facto complainant in his lap and sexually press her breast," the court had observed and granted bail to the accused saying it was a "fit case wherein the accused can be granted bail".
Chandran has been accused in two sexual harassment cases, one by a writer belonging to a Scheduled Tribe community, alleging sexual harassment by him during a book exhibition in Kochi in April 2022. The other was by a young writer, who accused him of sexual harassment during a book exhibition in the town in February 2020.
Chandran was granted anticipatory bail in the first case on August 2. The Kerala government has already opposed the first bail order saying it was against the spirit of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The judge had remarked that Chandran being an anti-caste activist would not have sexually harassed the woman, knowing that she was from a Dalit community.
In another plea, the Kerala government sought to remove the controversial remarks in the August 12 order of the Kozhikode Sessions Court while granting bail to the 74-year-old writer. The government, in its plea, sought to remove the remarks saying it questions the survivor's right to freedom under the Constitution. The plea also said that the observation of the lower court was illogical and without examining the facts of the case.