Suspended special Director General of Police Rajesh Das has filed yet another petition in the Madras High Court and this time, he has challenged an order passed by Villupuram Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) on July 30 taking cognisance of a charge-sheet filed against him in a sexual harassment complaint lodged by a woman Indian Police Service (IPS) officer.
When the matter was listed before Justice M. Nirmal Kumar on Thursday for deciding its maintainability, the judge directed the High Court Registry to number the petition and list it for admission in regular course. In his petition, the suspended DGP contended that it would have been virtually impossible for the CJM to have read a 1,300-page charge-sheet within a few hours.
He pointed out that the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) probing the sexual harassment case had filed its charge-sheet on July 29 and the CJM took cognisance of it the very next day and issued summons to him. “It is impossible for the CJM to have read 1,300 pages of the charge-sheet between July 29 evening and July 30 morning,” he contended.
The suspended DGP also alleged that the CJM was under heavy pressure since the High Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the complaint and monitored the investigation by CB-CID. “The learned Magistrate was influenced by the orders of this court in suo motu proceedings and took cognisance of the offence without proper application of judicial mind,” his petition read.
