Kerala govt seeks cancellation of Civic Chandran's bail in sexual harassment case

The Kerala government on Friday moved the state High Court seeking to cancel the bail granted to writer and social critic Civic Chandran in a sexual harassment case filed by a Dalit writer.

It was only recently that the Kerala's Kozhikode district sessions court, while granting anticipatory bail to Chandran, observed that offences under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act would not prima facie stand against the accused.

It said that it is "highly unbelievable that he will touch the body of the victim fully knowing that she is member of Scheduled Caste."

This year, two sexual harassment cases were filed against the writer and was granted anticipatory bail in both the cases.

The first case was registered on July 17 when a Dalit writer complained that Chandran tried to kiss her on her neck and outraged her modesty on April 17. He was granted anticipatory bail on August 2.

While the second case was registered on August 12 and the same court observed that the offence under Section 354 (A) (sexual harassment) of the IPC would prime facie not be attracted when the woman was wearing 'sexually provocative dresses'.

Judge K Krishna Kumar of Kozhikode district sessions court said available materials showed “this is an attempt to tarnish the status of the accused in society."

Published on: Friday, August 19, 2022, 01:11 PM IST