Steps have been taken to challenge an order passed by judicial magistrate K.V. Mahendra Boopathy (since suspended) on March 29 acquitting two granite miners from private complaints lodged against them by the district administration besides ordering criminal prosecution against former Collector Anshul Mishra, according to R. Sheela, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) for granite cases.
“Documents required for challenging the order before High Court Bench here have been prepared and they would be filed after being vetted by State Public Prosecutor S. Shanmugavelayutham.
The Magistrate could have returned the two complaints in 2013 itself if he felt that they could not be filed after Mr. Mishra’s transfer to Chennai. Instead, he has ordered for prosecution after 30 months of hearing,” she said.
Mr. Boopathy had directed the head clerk of the Judicial Magistrate court at Melur near here to obtain the State government’s consent to prosecute Mr. Mishra under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code for having lodged the private complaints in his capacity as Collector of Madurai on July 18, 2013 though he had handed over the charge to his successor L. Subramanian on July 7, 2013 itself before moving to Chennai.
Batch of cases
The Magistrate had passed the order just days after he was rebuked by Justice P.N. Prakash of the High Court on March 24 for reportedly toeing the line of granite barons in the district at the cost of disobeying orders passed by the High Court in another batch of granite cases.
Mr. Boopathy’s order cost him dearly as he was suspended from service by the High Court on April 1 pending a detailed inquiry into his conduct.
