Girls complain of harassment when caught for copying; court acquits teacher in Thodupuzha

THODUPUZHA: The court acquitted the accused in a harassment case filed by female students against the additional chief examiner for catching them while copying. Thodupuzha Additional Sessions Judge Laijumol Sheriff acquitted Professor Anand Viswanathan, who was arraigned in the harassment case.

Additional chief examiner and head of the economics department of the college, Professor Anand, had caught five female students for copying in MA Economics second semester examination held at Munnar Government College between August 27 and September 5, 2014. He also assigned the invigilator to report the incident to the university. However, since the students were SFI activists, the invigilator refused to comply with the order.

Five female students then filed a complaint with the education minister and the women's commission. Based on the statements of the four female students, the Munnar police registered four cases against the teacher. The teacher was earlier acquitted in two of these cases. In the other two cases, he was sentenced to three years in prison. The judgment of the Thodupuzha Additional Sessions Court was issued on an appeal filed challenging this.

The court criticized the complainants and the police. The court observed that the principal supported in the attempt to avenge the rape case and that there was a political conspiracy in the case. Advocates S Ashokan, Shaji Joseph, Reji G Nair, Prasad Joseph, Sunny Mathew, Premji Sukumar and Abhijith C Lal appeared for Anand Viswanathan.