Kerala High Court acquits former minister Neela Lohitadasan Nadar in sexual assault case; second case in which he is acquitted

The High Court has acquitted former minister Neelalohitadasan Nadar in the sexual assault case. The High Court had acquitted Neelalohitadasan Nadar in the case filed on a complaint filed by an official who held a high position in the Kerala Forest Department. The High Court had now acquitted the former minister in a case in which the trial court had sentenced him to one year.

Justice Kausar Edappagam's verdict was on a petition filed by Nadar against the sentence. Neelalohitadasan Nadar had been acquitted by a fast-track court in 2008 in a similar case of sexual assault against a senior IAS officer. The trial court had convicted in cases where high-ranking officials, such as an IAS officer and a forest department officer, had been convicted and later acquitted by the appellate courts after lapse of time.

The current case in which Neelalohitadasan Nadar was acquitted by the High Court was when Neelalohitadasan Nadar was the Forest Minister. The incident in question was on February 27, 1999. The complaint was that the Forest Minister, Neela Lohitadasan Nadar, had come to the Kozhikode Government Guest House for an official meeting as instructed over the phone and had entered and insulted the officer in room number one while returning from the meeting. The complaint was not filed immediately after this incident. However, in February 2002, when the former IAS officer filed a complaint against Neela Lohitadasan Nadar that the same officer had tried to insult her, the Forest Department officer also filed a complaint with the police, stating that she had had a bad experience with the minister years ago. The Forest Department officer filed a complaint with the DGP and the case was transferred to the Crime Branch.

The Kozhikode Judicial First Class (IV) Court sentenced Neela Lohitadasan Nadar to one year in prison in a case that was tried in secret. The court had postponed the execution of the sentence for one month to allow for an appeal. Neela Lohitadasan Nadar then approached the High Court. Neela Lohitadasan Nadar responded to the allegations by saying that the forest mafia was behind the case against him. Neela Lohitadasan Nadar is currently one of the RJD national general secretaries.

Neela Lohitadasan Nadar was acquitted by a fast-track court in 2008 in a similar case of sexual assault against a senior IAS officer. Neela was acquitted by quashing the three-month jail term and Rs 50,000 fine awarded by a lower court. The case was that he tried to molest an IAS officer by summoning him to a room in the Assembly for official discussions while he was the transport minister in the Left government.