Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday cancelled the anticipatory bail granted to author and social activist Civic Chandran in a sexual assault case.
The HC also instructed that Chandran should not be arrested in the case considering his age.
The court observed that the observations made by the Kozhikode Sessions Court while granting the bail was irrelevant to the case. The court added that it will examine the documents concerning the case.
The Kerala Government had moved the High Court challenging the anticipatory bail granted to Chandran in the second sexual harassment case registered against him.
The appeal filed by the state government contended that certain references made in the lower court order were illegal, and the same amounted to questioning the victim’s right to freedom granted by the constitution.
It also demanded that the controversial references made in the lower court order be removed. The state had filed a similar petition before the High Court the other day in the sexual harassment case filed by a Dalit writer against Chandran.
Meanwhile, the High Court sent a notice to Civic Chandran based on a petition filed by the Dalit victim questioning the anticipatory bail granted to him. She contended that the order by the lower court granting bail had illegal references. There was a delay in lodging the complaint against the activist as her father had died. Besides, she also suffered from mental pressure, she pointed out in her petition.
The reference made by the lower court while granting anticipatory bail to Civic Chandran had turned controversial. The Kozhikode Sessions Court Judge S Krishna Kumar observed that the poet who lodged the complaint was wearing a "sexually provocative dress at the time of the incident. This was clear from the photos submitted by Civic Chandran. Hence the offence under Section 354 A of the IPC is not prima facie attracted.”
Two sexual assault cases have been filed against Civic Chandran.
The first charge against Chandran is that he had forcefully pulled the complainant, a young Dalit woman, to his lap and groped her at Nandi beach near Koyilandy after a cultural camp held on February 8, 2020
Koyilandy police registered a case against the accused for offences under Sections 354A(2), 341 and 354 of the Indian Penal Code based on a complaint filed by the survivor against Chandran on July 29, 2022. Though a case was filed, the court granted anticipatory bail to the activist.
Meanwhile, another young woman belonging to the scheduled caste has also alleged that Chandran sexually assaulted her during a book exhibition.
