NEW DELHI: In a significant relief to former AIADMK minister M. Manikandan, the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal filed by an actress challenging the Madras High Court’s order granting him bail in a sexual harassment case.
“In the present circumstances, we have no option but to dismiss the special leave petition seeking cancellation of bail, filed by the complainant, owing to the quashing of the FIR itself. Accordingly, the special leave petition is dismissed,” the apex court stated in its order dated 23 September.
In a related development, the court expressed concern over the delay in listing the matter for hearing. “The fact that this case was not listed for hearing despite a prior direction is a disturbing factor,” the bench noted. “While issuing notice on 13 May 2022, this Court had directed that the matter be listed immediately after service was complete on the respondents (the State Government and others). As per the office report, Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 were served on 30 May 2022. Yet, the case was not listed by the Registry thereafter,” the order stated.
The Supreme Court has now directed the Registrar (Judicial) to conduct an enquiry and submit a report in Chambers within two weeks. The enquiry will determine why the case remained unlisted for over three years and who was responsible for the delay, despite explicit instructions from the Court.
The case against Manikandan was initially registered after the complainant, a South Indian actress, alleged that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with her under the false promise of marriage, and later cheated her.
The Madras High Court had granted conditional bail to Manikandan on 7 July 2021. The complainant subsequently challenged this decision before the Supreme Court on 16 April 2022.
When the petition came up for hearing on 13 May 2022, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu Government and sought its response. However, the matter was not listed again until it was finally heard on 23 September 2025 by a two-judge bench comprising Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi.
During the hearing, advocate Sabarish Subramanian, appearing for the Tamil Nadu Government, informed the Court that the Madras High Court had already quashed the FIR in August 2022 following a compromise reached between both parties. The High Court had accepted the settlement and closed the case accordingly.