A magistrate court here on Saturday discharged former Minister A.K. Saseendran from all criminal culpability in the high-profile private complaint that he had outraged the modesty of a woman journalist while holding high office.
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Thiruvananthapuram, K.N. Prabhakaran’s judgment absolving him of guilt in the politically stormy accusation of sexual misdemeanour as Minister has arguably set the scene for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator’s possible re-entry into the State Cabinet.
Mr. Saseendran had to quit office under a cloud last year after a private television channel broadcast a controversial and heavily modified audio sex tape that targeted him. At the time, the complainant was on the muster roll of the news organisation.
The CJM refused to entertain a last-minute private petition filed by Lakshmi Kutty who wanted the court to re-examine the compliant and reserve its orders for a later date. Mr. Saseendran’s counsel V.S. Bimal said the court appeared to have treated the interference in its process as a delaying tactic. Several flip-flops on the part of the complainant had marked the sensational charge against Mr. Saseendran. The journalist initially deposed that Mr. Saseendran had attempted to engage her in a sordid and sexually explicit conversation when she called on him at his official residence to pursue a story on the state of she toilets in bus terminals.
She had accused him of sexual harassment, electronic stalking, and insulting the modesty of women under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The CJM opened an inquiry on his own into the incident. He also issued summons to the accused. However, before the process could begin, the complainant sought the court's sanction to withdraw her accusation.
