Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday sought progress report of the investigation into a case against Kerala Law Academy Law College former principal Lakshmi Nair for allegedly harassing a student belonging to Scheduled Caste by addressing him by his caste. The court also asked the prosecution not to arrest her till February 23 in connection with the case. The court asked the police to file the progress report on February 23 when a petition filed by Lakshmi Nair challenging the case registered against her under 3(s) of The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act came up for hearing.
The police booked Lakshmi Nair based on the complaint lodged by a a fourth semester LLB student of the college. In the complain he has alleged that former principal had ridiculed him when he was standing in front of the principal’s office along with his four friends on January 21, 2016. This caused him mental agony and lowered his self esteem. News had appeared in the media that scheduled caste/scheduled tribe students of the college were denied the government grant due to negligence on the part of the college. The complainant alleged that he was defamed in public place for giving the information to the media. He said that since he was a member of the AISF, he wanted to check with his party leaders before filing a compliant. This was cited as the reason for the delay in filing complaint.
