HC to hear today case against Special DGP

Madras High Court Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee directed the High Court Registry to number a suo motu writ petition taken up by Justice N. Anand Venkatesh to monitor a probe into the charge against a special Director General of Police (now put on compulsory wait) for sexually harassing a woman Superintendent of Police last month.

The Chief Justice also ordered listing of the case before the same judge, and accordingly, it has been listed for hearing on Friday.

Justice Venkatesh on Thursday directed Additional Public Prosecutor M. Mohamed Riyaz to make sure that the case diary with respect to an FIR registered against the Special DGP as well as a Superintendent of Police , who allegedly waylaid the victim when she was on her way to lodge the complaint, was produced before the court on Friday. He also wanted to know the current status of the investigation.

The judge directed the APP to be prepared to answer whether the case against two Indian Police Service (IPS) officers was being probed by the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) dispassionately and as fairly as a similar case against ordinary individuals would be handled.

The judge had taken suo motu notice of the issue and decided to monitor the probe after expressing shock over such serious allegations against two IPS officers.

He wrote: “This is one of those extraordinary cases where the sentinel must rise to the occasion to discharge its constitutional duty and ensure that pure streams of criminal justice are not polluted and corrupted by those in the corridors of power. If an officer, due to the power he wields, thinks that he can get over with his power and connections, from any act, this court is not going to be a mute spectator. It will step in and ensure that the rule of law is preserved. Persons by virtue of the position they hold should not get the impression that they can do anything and escape from the situation with their power.”

The judge also said: “The more the power that is vested in a person by virtue of the position that he is holding, the more stringent must be the punishment if he indulges in sexual harassment. Whosoever may be the person involved and whatever position he holds, these considerations should never come in the way of the law taking its own course, more particularly when it comes to cases of sexual harassment.”