Supreme Court sets aside pre-arrest bail granted to Tamil Nadu police officer in case of harassing law student

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has set aside the anticipatory bail granted to a suspended Tamil Nadu police officer accused of sexually harassing a law college student aboard a moving train.

A bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and S V N Bhatti passed the order on May 7 on a plea by the complainant against an order of Madras High Court of January 7, 2026 which had granted anticipatory bail to accused Sheik Abdulla Mohammed.

The case was registered under Sections 62, 75 & 304 (2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita read with Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 2002.

"The high court has granted pre-arrest bail to Respondent no.1 (Sheik Mohammed), simply for the reason that the respondent no.1, who is in police service, was suspended from service immediately and that no custodial interrogation would be necessary," court said.

The bench said the high court’s decision to protect him from arrest merely because departmental action had already been initiated was unsustainable in law.

"The manner in which the order has been passed and the reasoning that Respondent No.1 has been suspended and therefore deserves to be enlarged on bail, does not appeal to our minds," the bench said.

The court allowed the appeal moved by the law student, who was represented by Advocate Vishal Sinha.

The bench remanded the matter to the High Court for fresh consideration of the anticipatory bail of Respondent No. 1 on merits, expeditiously in accordance with law.

The incident occurred in December when the law student was travelling alone on the train. The policeman was allegedly returning after security duty in Chennai when he inappropriately touched and harassed the woman as the train neared Katpadi. The student recorded the alleged misconduct on her mobile phone and alerted the railway police.