The Madras High Court on Monday called for a copy of the charge sheet filed by Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) against P. Nirmala Devi, now a suspended Assistant Professor of Devanga Arts College at Aruppukottai in Virudhunagar district, who had been accused of luring girl students into sex trade in 2018.
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Since five years had passed, Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy wanted to know the charges that had been pressed against her in the ongoing trial. The judges also directed Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU), to which her college was affiliated, to spell out the status of the disciplinary proceedings initiated against her.
The judges directed State Government Pleader P. Muthukumar as well as MKU counsel to ensure the charge sheet and status of the disciplinary proceedings were placed before the court on February 6, 2024. They wanted to know whether the accused had stopped with luring the students or whether she had actually pushed them into sex trade.
The direction was issued on a 2018 public interest litigation petition filed by D. Ganesan, state coordinator of Revolutionary Students Youth Front - Tamil Nadu. The petitioner had objected to a parallel probe ordered by the then vice-chancellor of MKU P.P. Chellathurai, at the instance of the then Governor Banwarilal Purohit, by appointing former IAS officer R. Santhanam to inquire into the matter.