The Sessions Court in Kozhikode district of Kerala on August 12 granted anticipatory bail to an activist accused in the second sexual harassment case against him citing that the case will not prima facie stand when the complainant was wearing a ‘sexually provocative dress.’ Early this month, the court granted anticipatory bail in the first case against writer and activist Civic Chandran.
The court said that the offence under Section 354A of the Indian Penal Code is not prima facie attracted when the woman was wearing ‘sexually provocative dresses’. “The photographs produced along with the bail application by the accused would reveal that the defacto complainant herself is exposing to dresses which are having some sexual provocative one. So Section 354A will not prima facie stand against the accused”, the court said.
The court further noted while granting bail, “Even admitting that there was physical contact, it is impossible to believe that a man, aged 74, and physically disabled can forcefully put the defacto complainant in his lap.”
Even admitting that there was physical contact, it is impossible to believe that a man, aged 74, and physically disabled can forcefully put the defacto complainant in his lap – the court further observed. (2/2)
— ANI (@ANI) August 17, 2022
The court also noted that there was long delay in filing the complaint, and the reason for the delay must be properly explained.
Civic Chandran has been accused in two sexual harassment cases, one by a writer from a Scheduled Tribe community who claims he sexually harassed her during a book show in April. The other was filed by a young writer who accused him of sexual harassment at a local book fair in February 2020.
Chandran was subject to legal prosecution by the Koyilandy police, but they were unable to capture him. Chandran received anticipatory bail in the first case on August 2 from Kozhikode District Sessions Court. On the same day Chandran received anticipatory relief from the court, another woman accused him of sexual harassment. He then filed a court application for anticipatory bail in the second case late last week. Acting on the bail application, the court instructed the police not to arrest Chandran and heard the matter last Friday.
It is worth noting that several courts have issued judgments in sexual harassment cases making unusual observations. The Bombay High Court held in 2021 that groping without skin-to-skin contact is not sexual assault. The Nagpur Bench of the Court ruled that if the accused did not remove the minor’s top or slide his hands inside her clothes, the act would not be considered sexual assault.
Days after, the same court ruled that ‘the act of holding a girl’s hands and opening the zip of pants will not come under the definition of sexual assault’ under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012.
In April 2022, the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence imposed on rape and murder convict Mohd. Firoz. The Supreme Court questioned the legitimacy of a 2014 decision by the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Jabalpur, stating that “every sinner has a future.”
The three-judge bench of Justices UU Lalit, S. Ravindra Bhat, and Bela M. Trivedi gave the judgement, stating that the utmost sentence given may not always be the deciding element in healing the offender’s shattered psyche. It should be noted that the next Chief Justice of India will be Justice UU Lalit.
