The shadow boxing between the judiciary and the police in Tamil Nadu took a new turn with the Madras High Court initiating contempt proceedings against police officials in Tirupur district for arresting Judicial Magistrate S Thangaraj, on charges of rape and criminal intimidation based on a complaint filed by Uma Maheswari, a Sub-Inspector of police.
“Blatant misuse of powers and showing scant regard and disrespect to the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in the case of Delhi Judicial Service Association vs State of Gujarat has compelled us to take suo motu action for committing contempt by five police officers and three constables who accompanied the officers,” said the First Bench consisting of acting Chief Justice RK Agrawal and Justice M Sathyanarayanan.
The judges directed the police officials concerned to appear personally before the Bench on July 29 and explain their stand on the issue.
However, the judges were silent on the fact that the victim Uma had personally met the Acting Chief Justice, Registrar of the High Court and another judge Justice Elipe Dharma Rao on June 24 and submitted her grievances against Thangaraj, Judicial Magistrate, fast track court, Coonoor.
“I also submitted copies of my complaint to Their lordships by post and fax prior to meeting them personally,” S-I Uma told The Pioneer.
Thangaraj, belonging to the Dalit community, was arrested on Saturday on a complaint by Uma, who accused the magistrate of sexually molesting her and failing to keep the promise of marrying her.
The Tirupur Sessions Court granted bail to Thangaraj on Monday, and he resumed his duties on Tuesday. The arrest and imprisonment of Thangaraj annoyed a section of the lawyers in the State, who are already on a collision course with the police.
The High Court’s contention is that by arresting Thangaraj on charges of rape and criminal intimidation, the police officials lowered the authority of the court in the eyes of the general public and this is equivalent to contempt of court.
Thangaraj had a live-in relationship with Uma for the last three years. Since he was unemployed, he was surviving on Uma’s income and had promised to marry her once he got a job.
However, after his selection as Magistrate, Thangaraj walked out of the relationship and married a much younger girl on June 20 to the shock and dismay of Uma.
The S-I had no other alternative but to file a criminal case against the Magistrate for cheating and criminal intimidation. On Saturday, Uma had told The Pioneer that Thangaraj was arrested after completing the entire guidelines issued by the Supreme Court.
Even at that time, friends and relations of Thangaraj had threatened her for filing the complaint and asked her to withdraw the same. She has been provided round-the-clock security by the district police.
R Natarajan, former Director-General of Police, said he could not understand the logic behind the summoning of the police officials by the Madras High Court.
“All are equal before the law. lawyers too are custodians of the law. If the Supreme Court guidelines have been observed, no action is possible against the police officials. The Supreme Court guidelines are to ensure that the general public is not put to any inconvenience because of the arrest of a person,” said Natarajan.
Relations between the police and judiciary in Tamil Nadu turned ugly after the 2009 agitation by the lawyers over the Sri lankan Tamil issue. The agitation saw unpleasant scenes like the burning down of a police station near the High Court premises and beating up of Janata Party chief Dr Subramanian Swamy by a section of lawyers in the court room in front of the judges.
Recently, some lawyers approached the High Court demanding the suspension of K Ramanujam, the Director-General of Police, whom they alleged misbehaved with them.