Kerala University Sanskrit PhD Row: Special Court Grants Bail To Dean Booked Under SC/ST Act

The Special Court for SC/ST (PoA) Cases, Nedumangad (Thiruvananthapuram) has granted bail to Dr. C.N. Vijayakumari, Head of the Department of Sanskrit, Chairman of the Doctoral Committee, and Dean, Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Kerala.Dr. Vijayakumari is the sole accused in the crime registered at Sreekaryam Police Station in Thiruvananthapuram alleging commission of the offences under Sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(s) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015.The prosecution allegation is that the petitioner, who belongs to a high caste, called the victim, Vipin Vijayan, a research scholar in the University by his caste name in the presence of staff and members.Sri. A. Shajahan, Special Judge, passed the order granting her bail. A detailed order is awaited.Earlier, the dean had come before the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail and was granted interim protection from arrest. Thereafter, on November 25, the High Court dismissed her bail plea as not maintainable but granting her liberty to approach the Special Court. In its order, the High Court had also granted her protection from arrest for a period of two weeks.According to her plea before the High Court, she had been falsely implicated in the crime following an incident during Vipin's open defence, a research scholar of the University. In the said plea, she had stated that she had attended the session as part of her official duties and the said scholar could not answer even basic questions of the audience. It was also pointed out that the scholar's thesis contained many errors.When he failed to answer appropriately, a close associate of his who was operating the online meeting platform, started muting/removing the participants of the meeting. At that point, the petitioner had to intervene to ensure transparency. She had further stated that she even tried to advise Vipin and offered to help him to correct his thesis but he forcibly snatched the mic from her and concluded the session with a single line of thanks.In her plea, she had stated that she has faced pressure from the side of the University and the police to approve Vipin's thesis. She had also provided reasons for directly approaching the High Court without going before the Sessions Court for her anticipatory plea. According to her, it was because she was fearing her personal safety because of the hostile atmosphere in the University, created by Vipin and his associates.In the bail plea before the High Court, she had further submitted that the Hon'ble Pro Chancellor of the University, who is also the Minister for Higher Education in the State, made open and public statements against her, insinuating as though she had committed offences. She had said such statements made by a person holding a high constitutional and political office have created a reasonable apprehension in the mind of the petitioner that she is unlikely to get a fair and impartial consideration before the jurisdictional authorities at Thiruvananthapuram.”It was after her plea before the High Court was dismissed that Dr. Vijayakumar had surrendered before the Special Court today seeking regular bail. The case was thus taken up today and allowed.The bail plea was moved by Advocate Sekhar G. Thampi.Case No: Crl.M.P. No. 891/2025Case Title: C.N. Vijayakumari v. State of KeralaRead/Download Judgment of the High Court

Kerala University Sanskrit PhD Row: Special Court Grants Bail To Dean Booked Under SC/ST Act

K. Salma Jennath

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