It’s a shame that two top police officials are facing criminal case, says HC judge

Justice Velmurugan orders completion of trial in sexual harassment case within three months

It is a “shame” that a special Director General of Police (since suspended) has been accused of making sexual advances towards a woman Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and a Superintendent of Police (also under suspension now) has been charged with waylaying her when she was on the way to lodge a complaint, said Justice P. Velmurugan of the Madras High Court on Wednesday.

The judge made the oral observation during the hearing of a criminal revision petition filed by the suspended SP D. Kannan against the refusal of a Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Villupuram to discharge him from the criminal case. He said if women IPS officers could face such an affront to their dignity, less said was better about the plight of women police personnel in lower ranks.

The judge asked how the common man would have faith in the police department if high-level officers were accused of lowly acts. He said the department was “highly polluted.” People approach police with great expectations but the investigation conducted in most of the cases under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act of 2012 was not upto the mark, he lamented.