After over a decade of being arrested on accusations of sexual harassment levelled by SFI-linked students, the ordeal of retired professor, Anand Vishwanath, has ended as a Kerala court acquitted him of all charges.
In a recent ruling, a Thodupuzha Additional Sessions Court, noted that the professor was falsely implicated by four girl students from CPI(M)’s student wing Student Federation of India (SFI), after he caught them doing malpractice during a postgraduate examination.
Now retired, Professor Anand Vishwanath, headed the department of Economics at Government College, Munnar in Idukki district in 2014. He was chargesheeted in four cases wherein the SFI-linked students accused him of sexual harassment inside the examination hall. Professor Anand Vishwanath then reported the matter to the invigilator on duty and gave him the manuscripts he seized from SFI-linked students.
One one after the incident, all the four women students filed a joint complaint with the education minister and the State Women’s Commission, accusing Professor Anand Vishwanath of sexually harassing them in the exam hall on different occasions between August and September. An internal committee was formed and FIR was registered against Vishwanath.
The trial started, and in 2021, the Chief Judicial Magistrate court at Devikulam, sentenced Vishawanath to three years’ imprisonment in two cases, and acquitted him in two other cases.
However, Anand Vishwanath challenged the conviction before the Additional Sessions Court in Thodupuzha. Now, the court has set aside his conviction in these cases.
Appearing for the defendant, advocate S Ashokan contended that the prosecution did not producr independent witness. He also said that the invigilator was not made a witness in this case.
“In all the cases, the same girls were the witnesses. If one of the girls is a victim in a case, the other three were arraigned as witnesses in that case. In the other three cases, the same girls were listed in different roles as victims and as witnesses. The court has found that the cases were politically motivated,” the advocate said.
While setting aside the conviction, judge Laijumol Sherif, said that the testimonies of the four students were full of contradictions, omissions and embellishments, making the case an improbable one.
The judge added that these testimonies were not corroborated with evidence from individual witnesses. “Therefore, the evidence brought on record through the complainants is not sufficient to prove the occurrence, but is more than enough to prove that the professor was falsely implicated in the crime,” the court said.
The court further observed that the complainant students did not face any action for their malpractice and that a conspiracy was hatched at CPIM’s office to falsely implicate professor Anand Vishwanath.
“…No action was taken on the malpractice of the four students, and instead there occurred a conspiracy at the party office of the CPIM to rope in the professor…” the court said.
