VILLUPURAM/CHENNAI: Madras High Court on Monday refused to stay the order passed by the Villupuram Principal Sessions Court earlier during the day, upholding the conviction and three-year sentence of former special DGP Rajesh Das in a sexual harassment case.
On Monday, Villupuram Principal Sessions Judge R Poornima dismissed the appeal filed by Das against his conviction in a sexual harassment case of a female IPS officer. The court upheld the three-year imprisonment imposed on him by the lower court along with Rs 500 fine imposed on then Chengalpattu Superintendent D Kannan.
Subsequently, late that day, when a petition filed by Rajesh Das, seeking to transfer the case from the Villupuram court to Kallakurichi court came up for hearing before Justice M Nirmal Kumar of Madras High Court, his counsel sought the court to stay the order of Villupuram court since the court had not taken into account the pendency of the case seeking transfer of the case. However, the judge refused to stay the order of the appellate court, saying the order can be stayed only if the order of the court is challenged.
Das was accused of sexually harassing a female IPS officer during the bandobust duty for then CM Edapaddi K Palanisamy’s conference in Salem in 2021. Along with him, the then Chengalpattu Superintendent of Police D Kannan was accused of stopping the officer on her way to Chennai to file her complaint.
A case was filed and it was heard at Villupuram Chief Judicial Magistrate Court citing jurisdiction of the incident. On June 16, 2023, the CJM sentenced Das to three years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 20,500. Subsequently, in July, he filed an appeal in the Villupuram Principal Sessions Court challenging the sentence. The verdict on appeal case was announced on Monday.
Don’t act on Murasoli land issue: HC to NCSC
Chennai: The first bench of Madras High Court, consisting of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy, on Monday told the National Commission for Scheduled Castes not to proceed further on the complaint of Murasoli office land being Panchami land meant for SC communities. When an appeal petition filed by the Murasoli Trust against the order of a single judge, who stated the commission could proceed further by issuing fresh summons for inquiry, came up for hearing, senior counsel P Wilson argued that the commission is not empowered to adjudicate on land rights and sought a stay on the order. The bench, while issuing notice to commission and complainant R Srinivasan of BJP, told the commission not to proceed further and adjourned the matter to March 11.
‘MLA prosecuted sans proper sanction’
Chennai: Holding trial in a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act without getting proper sanction from the competent authority is a waste of judicial time and public money, senior Counsel Ranjith Kumar told the High Court on Monday. Appearing for Minister for Rural Development I Periyasamy before Justice N Anand Venkatesh on the suo motu revision of a trial court order discharging him from a case registered by the DVAC, he said the DVAC had not obtained sanction for prosecuting the Minister from the Governor who is the competent authority to give sanction against an MLA. The sanction was given by the Speaker who was not the competent authority, so filed the discharge petition in the trial court, he told the court. The arguments will continue on Tuesday.