TN government moves Madras High Court against order quashing sexual harassment case against 'godman' Shiva Sankar Baba

The Tamil Nadu government on Friday filed a plea before the Madras High Court to recall an order quashing the first information report (FIR) registered against self-styled godman Shiva Sankar Baba in a sexual harassment case..On October 17, a Bench of Justice RN Manjula had quashed the FIR against the godman on the ground of a 'technical flaw.'.Justice Manjula was earlier informed that the complaint was made by a woman for a incident that occurred in 2010. The complainant had failed to file an application before the Magistrate for condonation of delay.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..On Friday, counsel for State mentioned the matter before Justice Manjula and sought an urgent hearing. He 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..In its petition, the State has 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..The matter will be heard next on October 31..Advocate R Vijaya Kumar appeared for the petitioner. Additional Public Prosecutor A Damodaran appeared for the respondents State and the complainant.