Ransacking lawyer's home: SC grants bail to expelled AIADMK MP

The Supreme Court today again came to the rescue to expelled AIADMK MP L Sasikala Pushpa by granting her anticipatory bail in connection with alleged ransacking of the house of a lawyer representing her two women domestic aides in a sexual harassment matter against her and her family members.
A bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao said the Rajya Sabha member be "released on bail in the event of her arrest on furnishing of a bail bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of like amount".
The Madras High Court had on November 18 denied anticipatory bail to the MP by rejecting her contention that the instant case was registered due to political reasons and had said that her custodial interrogation was necessary.

The high court, however, had granted conditional bail to her husband Lingeswara Tilagan and son Pradeep Raja, saying that there was no material evidence against them in the case.
The apex court, which has earlier protected the MP against arrest in two other criminal cases, today agreed prima facie with the submission of senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Sasikala, that she is being targeted due to political reasons and deserved the protection.
The present case has been registered on a complaint by a woman advocate seeking action against a gang which "ransacked" her house at Tirunelveli in her absence on September 11.

The woman lawyer had also sought protection for herself and her clients, two former women domestic aides of the MP who are the complainants in the sexual harassment case.

Police, so far, have arrested three supporters of the MP -- Harinadar, Ramalingam and Chitrakumar -- in connection with the attack on the house.
The ransacking case is the third against Sasikala. Besides the sexual harassment case, she is also facing another case for allegedly forging documents for filing an anticipatory bail application in the high court earlier.
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Earlier, the apex court had protected Sasikala from arrest in two criminal cases of alleged sexual harassment of her family maids and forging of documents in her anticipatory bail petition lodged by the Tamil Nadu police respectively.

It, however, had asked the MP to join the police probe of the two cases.
Taking note of the submission of her counsel that there was threat to her life, the bench had directed Tamil Nadu police to ensure full protection to her so that no harm is caused when she appears before the investigating agencies.
Sasikala had approached the apex court against the order of the Madras High Court rejecting her plea for anticipatory bail in the sexual harassment case and registration of the case on the order of the high court for allegedly forging documents while filing anticipatory bail plea.

Acting on directions of high court bench, police had registered cases against expelled AIADMK member and her two family members for allegedly submitting forged documents while filing anticipatory bail petitions in the case pertaining to ill-treatment and sexual abuse of two women domestic aides respectively.
Police had registered cases under IPC Sections 193 (punishment for false evidence), 466 (forgery of record of court or of public register), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged {document or electronic record).
The cases were registered against Pushpa, her husband R Lingeswara Thilagam and son Pradeep Raja.
On September 14, court had dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Sasikala Pushpa and her three family members, including her mother, on a complaint filed by the two women domestic aides.

They are facing charges under various IPC sections and also POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act for allegedly sexually harassing the domestic women aides.