Chennai: The state government has sacked a special public prosecutor for her attempt to protect and save the accused in rape of minor girls in Perambalur district. SPP Chitra Devi also tutored the rape survivors and turned them hostile in court for the benefit of the accused.
According to the termination order dated December 20 from the home department, in the last month alone 10 cases disposed by the Mahila Court in Perambalur have ended in acquittal of the accused. The government has found the lawyer guilty of tutoring minor victims in multiple cases of sexual abuse.
The district superintendent of police informed the collector that the victims had turned hostile in all these cases. She was the main cause as she had tutored the victims to be hostile and support the accused. In November, one such case where 17-year-old girl who had been allegedly abducted, raped and forced into a marriage, later turned hostile when the case came to court a year later.
An audio recording, purportedly a conversation between the minor and Chitradevi, revealed that a day before the hearing, Shanthi was told to lie in court and deny the rape, claim that she did not know the accused and not listen to what the police had to say. The home department not only confirmed this conversation between the lawyer and the minor but also revealed that Chitradevi had tutored several other victims in a similar fashion.
In the termination order Niranajan Mardi, additional chief secretary stated that the SPP Mahila Court, Perambalur was the main cause as she was tutoring the victims to be hostile and support the accused. the conversation that Chitra Devi had with Shanthi as an example of her misconduct. The SPP being prosecution lawyer had shown sympathy towards the accused even going to the extent of suggesting a marriage alliance between the victim and the accused.
