At the end of December 2001, a case involving sex, pornography, and the Internet sent shock waves in conservative Chennai, with an unlikely mastermind: an orthopaedic surgeon. It was the first case in the State which was prosecuted under the Information Technology Act.
Kalanjikuppam, a fishing village near the Ennore port, became the focus of media attention. There was no human activity in the vicinity, but it had a dance floor and marble tiling. The case also involves two independent houses at Valasaravakkam and Nerkundram, where young school dropouts (both boys and girls) were allegedly filmed in secret or openly. The films were sent to many countries, including the U.S. and France.
A simple complaint
The story started on December 22 that year, with the city police receiving a complaint from S. Ganesh who claimed that he was a victim. Police attention then turned to doctor L. Prakash, who held positions in professional medical bodies and had publications to his credit.
On December 24, the Vadapalani police arrested Dr. Prakash on the charge of having forced youths to act in pornographic movies and selling the material to websites. A special team was formed by Deputy Commissioner of Police K.P. Shanmuga Rajeswaran and Assistant Commissioner of Police V. Rajendran.
The team raided a farmhouse at Kalanjikuppam and a house at Senthil Nagar, Valasaravakkam. The police said Dr. Prakash was allegedly selling the pornographic videos to foreign countries through the websites created by him. His house at Nerkundram was also used for the nefarious activities, they said. The police seized pornographic films, VCDs, digital cameras, and video cameras, The Hindu reported on the raids.
The special team, aided by cyber-experts, tracked the transactions of the doctor and found the companies he used for fund transfers.
On March 22, 2002, the city police filed a charge sheet before the XVII Metropolitan Magistrate. The charge sheet, which ran to 2,000 pages including documents submitted by V. Rajendran, Assistant Commissioner, T. Nagar (Law and Order), cited nine persons, including the doctor and his brother Pradeep, as the accused. They were charged with offences under Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code; Section 67 of the Information Technology Act; Sections 4 and 5 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986; Sections 5 and 6 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956; and Section 27 of the Arms Act, 1959. Seventy persons were cited as prosecution witnesses.
Detained at farmhouse
The prosecution alleged that Dr. Prakash was having his clinic at Anna Nagar. He was having a farmhouse at Kalanjikuppam and a rented guest house at Valasaravakkam. The second, third and fourth accused persons were the employees of Dr. Prakash: Saravanan, ward boy; Vijayan, driver; and Azir, a lab technician, who procured young girls/women with the help of one Chitra, who turned approver. The police said they used to detain the young men and women at the farmhouse or the guest house.
Between 2000 and 2001, the accused forced young women into sexual acts with Ganesan or with his three employees or with other males. Dr. Prakash had photographed or videographed the sexual acts. He used to send these photographs and videos to his younger brother, who was employed in the U.S., for being uploaded on the website for commercial purposes. At times, Prakash used his licensed gun to threaten the women into such acts, the prosecution said.
Ganesan deposed that he was threatened at gunpoint by Prakash to have sexual relationship with the women and Dr. Prakash used to videograph and photograph the same. Despite his repeated requests, Prakash uploaded the photographs and videos on the website, which was run by his friend at Pondicherry. Dr. Prakash denied each and every charge and said he was implicated in the case.
Convicted in 2008
V. Radha, Judge of Additional Sessions Court (Fast Track Court-V), pronounced the judgment on February 6, 2008, convicting Prakash of all offences he was charged with. She awarded him life imprisonment under Section 6 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. He was one of the first persons to be convicted under the Information Technology Act and was also sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 67 of the Act. A fine of ₹1 lakh was imposed on him. The court ordered that the sentences would run concurrently. Saravanan, Vijayan, and Asir were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from two years to seven years.
Dr. Prakash filed an appeal before the Madras High Court. His lawyer submitted that the sentence imposed on him under Section 6 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act was not proportionate to the gravity of the offence. Under Section 6, the minimum sentence should not be less than seven years in jail and the maximum might be either life sentence or a term less than life imprisonment. The lawyer argued that the four other men had committed the very same illegal activities, but they were treated not as accused but only as prosecution witnesses.
Sentence modified
In April 2015, a Division Bench of Justices S. Tamilvanan and C.T. Selvam modified the sentence from life imprisonment to one of the periods of imprisonment already undergone. As Dr. Prakash had undergone more than 13 years of imprisonment and life imprisonment was not mandatory for the charges proved, the court let him out. However, he was directed to pay the fine imposed by the trial court. Subsequently, he walked free from the Central Prison.
Dr. Prakash said, “For me, I only care for the person I see in the mirror, and to me, I have committed no crime, and I was framed and wrongly convicted. But the prison taught me a lot.” He has since then written several books, and teaches nuances of orthopaedics.
