Kerala sessions judge grants another bail to same accused in different case

A sessions court in Kerala, which created a controversy by observing that a woman wearing “sexually provocative dress” could not have been sexually harassed by an old man, triggered another row by granting bail to the accused in a case under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (SC/ST Act), saying the man would not have assaulted the woman knowing she was Dalit.

The accused in both cases was the same—writer and social activist Civic Chandran—and so was the judge who made the controversial rulings.

A Dalit woman writer had filed a sexual assault complaint against Chandran, alleging that the writer-activist sexually assaulted her during a book exhibition at Kozhikode in April. However, Chandran was granted anticipatory bail in the case on August 2.

In the bail order, sessions judge S Krishna Kumar, who issued it, stated that Chandran was someone who used to fight against the caste system in the country and that he didn’t mention his caste in his Class 10 SSLC certificate.

The judge also observed that it was not stated in the FIR that the accused sexually assaulted the woman knowing that she belonged to a Scheduled Caste. Hence, offences under the SC/ST Act would not stand against him, said the court.

On August 12, Chandran was given anticipatory bail by the same court in another sexual assault complaint. In that order, the court maintained that from the photographs produced by the accused, it would reveal that the complainant was wearing “sexual provocative” dress, and hence Section 354A of the Indian Penal Code would not “prima facie” stand against the accused.

The prosecution, last known, was filing for an appeal against the anticipatory bail.