CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Monday recalled an earlier order quashing the FIR on sexual harassment registered against self-styled godman Siva Shankar Baba, who runs a school on the outskirts of Chennai. Justice RN Manjula recalled the order following a petition by the TN government seeking to recall the order.
The judge posted the petition filed by Baba for quashing the FIR to November 29 for final hearing.
On October 17, 2022, the judge quashed the FIR, filed by Organised Crime Unit (OCU) of CB-CID, due to “technical flaw” that a “condone-delay application” was not forwarded with the FIR.
The State government, however, countered the decision by filing the recall petition. It stated that the complainant (the survivor ), in a case of sexual offence, could not be expected to be aware of a time period to file a complaint and the de facto complainant was neither given a notice nor was she given an opportunity to make submissions before the judge allowed the quash petition. So, it is “against the principles of natural justice”.
The government added that, according to the law laid down in Sarah Mathew case, a petition to condone delay under CrPC Section 473 was required only at the stage of cognisance. The OCU of CB-CID registered the FIR in 2021 after a complaint was lodged by the woman, who was allegedly harassed sexually in 2010 -11 by Baba when she approached him after her son was removed from the school. She had lodged the complaint in the wake of a series of child-abuse allegations against him.