Chargesheet against Kerala magistrate in solar scam
Date
4/12/2015 4:39:14 AM
(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The committee set up in June 2014 under the chief justice had found that Raju who was Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences) had committed serious procedural lapses in not recording the statement.
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Trivandrum: Amid a fresh row over the genuineness of a letter purportedly written by solar scam accused Saritha S Nair accusing some political leaders of sexually abusing her the Kerala High Court has on Saturday framed a chargesheet against a magistrate for not recording her statement in the court.
Justice P N Raveendran filed the chargesheet against N V Raju who is now Kasargod Chief Judicial Magistrate on the basis of high court administrative committee’s report.
The committee set up in June 2014 under the chief justice had found that Raju who was Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences) had committed serious procedural lapses in not recording the statement.
The magistrate could be demoted or even dismissed if found guilty. The magistrate has been given 15 days time to give his reply. There were allegations that Raju had not recorded the statement which contained the names of several ruling front leaders at the instance of some senior Congress leaders. The chargesheet comes 10 months after the high court decided to issue ‘memo of charges’ against him. The delay had led to criticism against the court. The high court had ordered a probe into the matter on the complaints filed by Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary K Surendran and Indian Association of Lawyers general secretary A Jayasankar.
The vigilance wing of the court which conducted a preliminary inquiry into the alleged lapses on the part of Raju said in its report that the accused should have been given the required materials such as pen and paper to write down her statement. Instead of this the magistrate asked her to make a written complaint through the superintendent of the jail in which she was lodged.
This had led to the allegation that the magistrate had colluded with Congress leaders to hush up the sex case. The case shook the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government after it took a political turn following the alleged link between three staff members in the office of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and the accused.
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