Judge who delivered "provocative dress" order moves Kerala High Court against his transfer to Labour Court

The Kerala judge, who delivered the order holding that sexual harassment case would not prima facie stand if the victim was wearing a “sexually provocative dress”, has approached the Kerala High Court challenging his transfer to a Labour Court in the wake of the controversy surrounding the said order..Justice Anu Sivaraman is slated to hear the matter on Tuesday, August 30..Additional District and Sessions Judge, Kozhikode S Krishnakumar, was recently transferred as Presiding Officer of Labour Court in Kollam district.Notice to that effect was published on the website of the Kerala High Court last week. As per the notice, the transfer was part of the routine transfer and posting of judicial officers and three other judges have also been transferred.However, it came at a time when the judge had come under scanner for his order. The judge while granting bail to activist Civic Chandran in a sexual harassment case, had stated that to attract the offence under Section 354A of the Indian Penal, there must be some unwelcome sexual advances but in the instant case, the photographs of the complainant showed her "exposing herself in provocative dresses".“In order to attract this Section, there must be a physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures. There must be a demand or request for sexual favours. There must be sexually colored remarks. The photographs produced along with the bail application by the accused would reveal that defacto complainant herself is exposing to dresses which are having some sexual provocative one (sic). So Section 354A will not prima facie stand against the accused," the Court had said.Civic Chandran was charged with committing offenses punishable under sections 354 A(2) &341 and 354 of the Indian Penal Code.The prosecution case was that in February 2020 at 5 pm, a cultural camp was organized by a group named “Nilanadatham” in Kadal veedu at Nandi beach. After the function, while the defacto complainant was taking rest near the seashore, the accused forcefully embraced her and asked her to sit on his lap. The accused also pressed the breast of the woman, thereby outraging her modesty.The order of the Sessions Judge had led to outrage with calls from the legal fraternity itself to sensitise judicial officers.The State government later appealed the order before the High Court which, on August 24, stayed the order.