Kerala High Court Acquits Former Minister Neelalohithadasan Nadar in Sexual Assault Case After 21 Years
Kochi: The Kerala High Court has acquitted former Forest Minister Dr. A. Neelalohithadasan Nadar in a sexual assault case that was registered based on a complaint from a high-ranking official. A bench of Justice Kauser Edappagath quashed the 2004 trial court order, which had sentenced him to one year in prison, and the Kozhikode Sessions Court’s subsequent order, which reduced the sentence to three months but upheld the conviction. This landmark verdict in favor of Nadar comes after 21 years since the alleged incident.
The acquittal was primarily based on the High Court’s assessment that the prosecution evidence, including the official’s testimony, was not credible, and there was an inexplicable two-year delay in filing the complaint. The original complaint alleged that while serving as Forest Minister, Neelalohithadasan Nadar had summoned a female IFS officer, who was the Kozhikode District Forest Officer (DFO), to the Kozhikode Guest House for official discussions and sexually assaulted her.
The incident reportedly occurred on February 27, 1999, but the First Information Report (FIR) was registered only on May 9, 2001, following a complaint made to the Director General of Police (DGP). The High Court deemed the explanation provided for the significant delay in filing the complaint unsatisfactory. Furthermore, the court observed inconsistencies between the complainant’s initial statements and subsequent witness testimonies, noting that the complainant appeared to have revised her statements over time.
The High Court also pointed out flaws in how both the Magistrate Court and the Sessions Court had evaluated the evidence. It concluded that the benefit of doubt must be given to the accused, and therefore, the initial conviction and subsequent punishment were not justified.
Throughout the proceedings, Neelalohithadasan Nadar consistently maintained in court that the allegations against him were fabricated at the instigation of a powerful forest mafia. While the Kozhikode Magistrate Court in 2004 had initially handed down a one-year prison sentence, the Sessions Court in 2005 reduced it to three months but upheld the finding of guilt. The High Court’s current order was a result of a petition filed by Nadar in 2006 challenging this decision.
Another critical observation by the court was that while the complainant claimed to have informed her mother and a friend by phone on the day of the incident, she did not mention this detail either when her police statement was taken two years later or during her cross-examination in court. The official had attributed the delay in filing the complaint to fear. However, the court noted that the minister had resigned on February 2, 2000, in connection with another alleged harassment case, yet it still took another year for the police complaint to be filed. The court ultimately concluded that these prolonged delays and discrepancies strengthened the defense’s suspicion that elements might have been added to bolster the prosecution’s case, leading to the former minister’s acquittal.