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Kerala judge transferred days after granting bail citing provocative dress
The transfer was ordered days after Krishnakumar granted anticipatory bail to writer Civic Chandran, 74, in two sexual harassment cases
The Kerala judge, who said sexual harassment charges will not stand against an accused if the complainant was wearing a “sexually provocative dress” and provoked outrage, was transferred to a labour court in Kollam late on Tuesday.
S Muraleekrishna will replace S Krishnakumar as the district sessions judge in Kozhikode. The transfer was ordered days after Krishnakumar granted anticipatory bail to writer Civic Chandran, 74, in two sexual harassment cases.
In the first case related to Chandran’s alleged attempt to kiss a Dalit writer forcibly in April, Krishnakumar granted bail saying it is highly unbelievable that the accused will touch the complainant knowing she comes from a Scheduled Caste background.
Krishnakumar pulled up the complainant for “an attempt to tarnish the status of the accused”, who is “fighting against the caste system”. He called the accused a reformist.
In the second case, he cited the photographs produced along with Chandran’s bail application and added they show the “complainant is herself exposing to dresses which are having some sexual provocative one.”
Krishnakumar added even admitting there was physical contact, it is impossible to believe that a man aged 74 and physically disabled can forcefully put the complainant in his lap and sexually press her private part.
The state government last week moved the high court against the bail. The National Commission for Women and activists deplored Krishnakumar’s comments.
