Madras High Court says it would not have quashed sexual harassment FIR against Shiva Sankar Baba if it knew chargesheet was filed

The Madras High Court Thursday said that it would not have quashed sexual harassment case against Godman Shiva Sankar Baba if it had known that chargesheet had already been filed in the case against him..The remark came after State government through public prosecutor Hasan Mohammad Jinnah told single-judge Justice RN Manjula that when the court was hearing arguments on quashing of the first information report (FIR), the State had submitted that the chargesheet had already been filed by Crime Branch.Shiv Sankar Baba's counsel too admitted that the chargesheet had been filed. Justice Manjula then said that such submission had escaped her attention somehow at the time. "If I had known that the chargesheet was filed I would not have quashed it," Justice Manjula said. The Court said that it will verify from the records whether the chargesheet had been filed or not and directed Shiv Shankar Baba to file his counter affidavit in the meanwhile. The matter will be heard next on November 15.State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohammad Jinnah appeared for the State.Advocate R Vijaya Kumar appeared for Shiva Sankar Baba.The Court was hearing a plea filed by the Tamil Nadu government urging it to recall an order of October 17 quashing the FIR registered against Shiv Sankar Baba in a sexual harassment case. The Court had quashed the FIR against the godman on the ground of a 'technical flaw.'.The Court had observed that although the allegations of sexual harassment were serious in nature, the woman had registered her complaint in 2021, and the State had failed to seek condonation of such delay by filing an application for extension of period of limitation under Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) at the time of registering the FIR. "Though the allegations made by the second respondent is serious in nature, because of the absence of any petition under Section 473 Cr.P.C. to condone the delay filed along with the complainant, the case becomes barred by limitation. In the said circumstances, I feel that the investigation cannot serve any fruitful purpose and for the reasons of technical flaw, the FIR is liable to be quashed," the Court had said. Subsequently, the State moved the present plea seeking recall of the order..In its petition, the State claimed that Shiva Sankar Baba's case was an "extraordinary" one, as he was repeated offender who had sexually harassed or assaulted at least six students at a residential school run by him, and two parents of his students, including the complainant. The government also alleged that the 'godman' often targeted students belonging to the economically weaker sections, or those who had single parents. During the mentioning of the plea last week, the State counsel contended that the complainant in the case had not been notified before the FIR was quashed.It was further argued that several Supreme Court judgments have held in the past that the "limitation bar" could not be the only ground for quashing of an FIR.