The Kerala high court on Wednesday stayed the order of a sessions court, granting pre-arrest bail to author ‘Civic’ Chandran on Wednesday.
The order, passed by Justice Dr Kausar Edapagath, said that considering Chandran’s age, no arrest will be made until the disposal of the matter. ‘Civic’ Chandran is 74 years old.
The judge further observed that matters not pertinent were considered for granting the pre-arrest bail. “Prima Facie it appears that the order of sessions judge is irregular and that irrelevant material are considered for granting pre-arrest bail,” the judge said.
On August 17, a Kozhikode session judge, while granting anticipatory bail to Chandran noted that a sexual harassment offence cannot be prima facie applied if a woman was wearing a ‘sexually provocative dress.’
Chandran was accused by a young writer of sexually harassing her on February 8, 2020. She had attended a camp convened by Chandran.
According to her statement, after the event, Chandran grabbed her hand and asked her to lie on his lap. While hearing the case, the session court said that it is hard to believe that a senior citizen who is physically challenged could forcibly ask the complainant to sit on his lap.
This is the second case of sexual harassment against Chandran. In April a writer belonging to a Scheduled Tribe community alleged sexual harassment by him during a book exhibition.
Reacting strongly to the sessions court’s order, the state government moved the Kerala high court to challenge the lower court’s order. It argued that the order of the court “suffers from illegality and manifest errors” warranting its intervention.
“Going through the statement of the victim and the outcome of the investigation conducted so far revealed the complicity of the accused and prima facie there are sufficient materials in the First Information Statement itself,” it said.
Meanwhile, the Kozhikode session court judge S Krishanakumar who passed the controversial order has been transferred to Kollam labour court. The transfer order was sanctioned by the Kerala high court on Tuesday.
