The Madras High Court on Thursday imposed a cost of ₹5,000 on an assistant professor for filing a case to restrain his educational institution from issuing transfer certificate to a first year student who had levelled sexual harassment charges leading to his suspension from service and a registration of a criminal case after a discreet enquiry.
Dismissing his writ petition, Justice RMT. Teekaa Raman held that the petitioner K. Coumaravel from the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry in Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture and Research Institute in Puducherry had filed the case with the mischievous intention of harassing the student who wanted to shift to some other institution.
Though the petitioner had contended that issuing transfer certificate to the complainant would delay the internal inquiry pending against him, the judge said the litigant’s real intention appeared to be some thing else. “I find that the petition is mischievous in nature and wants to give pressure to the victim girl.
“Victims of sexual offences have to be given protection or otherwise, the law enacted for the purpose will not be enforced in its true letter and spirit. Viewing from this angle, I am not inclined to entertain the writ petition,” the judge concluded.