Sasikala Pushpa moves Supreme Court against HC bail order

Expelled AIADMK member of Parliament Sasikala Pushpa and her family moved the Supreme Court on Saturday challenging an order of the Madurai bench of the Madras high court rejecting her plea for anticipatory bail in an alleged sexual harassment complaint filed by a former maid servant. The apex court on August 26 had granted protection for six weeks and in the meanwhile the high court rejected the anticipatory bail.

They said the complaint was frivolous and nothing but political vendetta just because she raised her voice against the AIADMK leadership. She said after she was expelled from the party, cases were foisted against her and her family for an incident that was alleged to have happened in 2011 in a bid to compel and pressurise her to resign from her seat in the Rajya Sabha. One such complaint was filed by B. Banumati before the superintendent of police, Tuticorin, falsely claiming to have been sexually harassed by the petitioners while working as maid in the house of the petitioners in the year 2011.

It is pertinent to note that the complainant lodged the aforesaid complaint virtually against each and every member of Sasikala’s family only with intent to wre-ck vengeance upon them.

They argued that the timing of the complaint was highly suspicious and a result of political vendetta due to expulsion of the petitioner no. 1 from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and her refusal to resign from her constitutional post. She said being an MP, she will not flee the country and in this case no custodial interrogation is required for the police to arrest her and her family members.

She said she signed the Vakalatnama for the Bail Application on August 17 to be filed in the high court of Madras at Madurai Bench while she was in India and sent the Vakalatnama to Madurai, Tamil Nadu through her husband. Then fearing for her life, she said she left for Singapore on the same day in a late night flight. However, due to a clerical mistake the date on the Vakalatnama was entered as 18.08.2016 before it was filed in the high court. For this mistake the HC ordered registration of case which is erroneous, she said and prayed for quashing the orders and to grant her and her family anticipatory bail.