No exemption from surrender for ex-Special DGP, says High Court
The judge said there was no reason to either suspend the sentence or to grant exemption from surrendering.
“It would not be in the interest of justice if this court grants suspension of sentence, more so considering the fact that the petitioner is not a novice. In fact, he was holding the post of DGP. A person of said stature, coming from a disciplined force, ought to have conducted himself in a proper manner, but the action of the revision petitioner has degraded the morale of the police force,” the judge remarked.
Though the convict had highlighted several contradictions in the prosecution case, the judge said those arguments were not t enough to consider the plea for suspension of sentence. They could be weighed only at the time of hearing the main revision petition led against the conviction as well as the sentence imposed by the trial court and conrmed by the appellate court.
The charge against the convict was that he had sexually harassed a woman Superintendent of Police in February 2021 when they were travelling together in his car on ocial duty. They were on duty for providing security to then Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami who was campaigning for AIADMK during the election to the Legislative Assembly. The CJM had found him guilty of the charge in 2023.
Revision petition
Though the convict went on appeal, the Villupuram Principal District Court dismissed his plea and conrmed the conviction and the sentence in 2024. Challenging these two concurrent ndings of the courts, he had approached the High Court with a revision petition and sought exemption from surrendering and also to suspend his sentence until the disposal of his revision.