The Madras High Court on Monday summoned an actress who had lodged a rape complaint against Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) chief coordinator S. Seeman, 55, in order to find out whether she had withdrawn in 2012 the complaint lodged in 2011.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh directed an Additional Public Prosecutor to ensure that the complainant was present in the court on March 19. The direction was issued on a petition filed by the party leader to quash the rape case pending since 2011.
The petitioner’s counsel S. Xavier Felix and S. Shankar told the court that the complainant had acted in one of the Tamil movies directed by their client when he was active in the film industry. However, she had lodged a false rape complaint in 2011, they claimed.
The court was also told that she had withdrawn the complaint in 2012 by conceding to have complained in haste due to the misguidance of certain individuals who posed to be her well wishers. Despite such withdrawal, the police had not closed the case all these years.
The petitioner, who was at the helm of his political career, did not show any interest in initiating legal proceedings against her for having made the false complaint because he believed that the issue raked up by her had come to an end after the withdrawal of the complaint.
However, in 2023, he came to know about the First Information Report (FIR) having been kept alive by the police and therefore, rushed to the court to get it quashed.
“This court has to necessarily intervene in this issue and see that the investigting agencies do not act as per the whims and fancies of the ruling party. After the change of government, a complaint that was withdrawn has been revisited without any authority of law only to satisfy the rulers,” his petition read.
