Over a decade after being arrested in multiple sexual harassment cases filed by students, Professor Anand Viswanath, a retired academic who once headed the Economics Department at Government College, Munnar, has been acquitted of all charges. The Thodupuzha Additional Sessions Court, in its ruling, observed that he was falsely implicated following an incident in which he caught students committing malpractice during an examination.
Viswanath (61), who also served as the additional chief superintendent of examinations at the college, had been chargesheeted in four separate cases in which women students alleged he sexually harassed them during the M.A. Economics second semester examinations held between August and September 2014.
In 2021, the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court at Devikulam sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment in two cases, while acquitting him in the other two. He was subsequently suspended from service. Challenging the conviction, he approached the Thodupuzha Sessions Court, which has now overturned the verdicts and acquitted him in all cases.
Court’s Observations
Judge Laijumol Sherif, who delivered the verdict, said the testimonies of the four students were riddled with contradictions, omissions, and embellishments. These inconsistencies were not corroborated by evidence from independent witnesses. The court held that while the testimonies were insufficient to prove the allegations, they were strong enough to demonstrate that the professor had been falsely implicated.
The court also noted that “no action was taken on the malpractice of the four students, and instead there occurred a conspiracy at the party office of the CPI(M) to rope in the professor.”
The Malpractice Incident
According to court records, Viswanath had caught five students, said to be activists of the CPI(M)’s student wing, the SFI, copying during the postgraduate examination in 2014. He reported the matter to the invigilator and handed over the seized manuscripts. However, his complaint was allegedly suppressed following political intervention. One month later, the same students lodged complaints with the Education Minister and the State Women’s Commission, accusing him of sexual harassment.
This led to the registration of four separate FIRs, resulting in four charge sheets and four trials, with the same group of students alternating between roles as victims and witnesses in different cases.
Defence Arguments
Advocate S. Ashokan, appearing for Viswanath, pointed out that the prosecution failed to produce any independent witnesses and did not even examine the invigilator present during the exams. “In all the cases, the same girls were the witnesses. If one of the girls was listed as a victim in a case, the others were made witnesses. In the other cases, their roles were interchanged. The court has rightly found that these cases were politically motivated,” he said.
The Professor’s Ordeal
For Viswanath, the acquittal comes after more than a decade of personal and professional turmoil. “For the last 11 years, I had to face humiliation. I was forced to send my daughter and son for higher secondary education in Tamil Nadu due to these cases. After the FIRs were registered, I went into hiding for a month fearing arrest, and returned home only after getting anticipatory bail,” he said.
Following his suspension, he was transferred first to Malappuram and later to Chittoor in Palakkad. He retired from service in 2021 but continues to receive only 75% of his pension due to the departmental inquiry initiated against him in connection with the cases.
Viswanath also filed a complaint against the college principal, alleging that he had conspired to falsely implicate him and suspend him from service. While an FIR was registered, the police later closed the matter. He has now challenged the closure report in court.
(With inputs from The New Indian Express)
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