Former Information Technology Minister M. Manikandan, 44, of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), has moved the Madras High Court seeking bail in a rape case booked against him by the Greater Chennai Police following a complaint lodged by an actor.
The principal sessions court in Chennai dismissed his bail plea on June 25, and hence he had now moved the High Court. In his present petition, the former Minister said it was not a case of the victim being a teenage girl or a rustic illiterate woman.
He pointed out that the complainant was a Malaysian national, who was well aware of the consequences of having a sexual relationship with a married man. Even if her complaint of having had a relationship with him on the promise of marrying her after divorcing his wife was true, it would not amount to rape, he said.
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He quoted the Supreme Court’s recent judgment which said, “Making a false promise to marry was wrong. Even a woman should not promise to marry and then break away. But that does not mean, in a prolonged relationship sexual intercourse would be categorised as rape.”
Claiming that it was not the complainant’s allegation that she was made to undergo abortion forcibly, the petitioner said she had only claimed that she had an abortion because he had told her that they could have children after marrying each other. The petitioner also claimed that a completely false complaint had been lodged against him by the complainant and her associates to avoid repayment of a loan of ₹5 lakh she had taken from him.
Further pointing out that he was a general surgeon, who was in government service for 12 years before he entered into politics, the petitioner said the apprehensions of him being capable of tampering with evidence was only assumptive.
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