Chennai: A city court awarded ₹1.41 lakh compensation to RTI activist C Selvaraj, holding that a criminal prosecution launched against him in 2016 was malicious and instituted without reasonable and probable cause.In its order dated Sept 1, the first assistant city civil court directed the state govt, the then official in the land administration department, R Boovaraghan, and the then joint commissioner of land administration J Vijayarani, to jointly and severally pay Selvaraj ₹1,41,200, along with 6% interest from Feb 11, 2020, the date of filing of the suit, until realisation. The three were also directed to pay the costs of the proceedings. However, the claim against the Chennai city commissioner of police was dismissed by the court.Selvaraj had filed the suit seeking ₹9 lakh in damages, alleging that he was subjected to malicious prosecution after he visited the land administration department office in Nov 2016 in connection with an RTI-related representation.A police case was registered against him under Sections 294(b), 353 and 506(i) of the IPC based on a complaint lodged by Boovaraghan. Selvaraj was arrested and remanded in judicial custody for three days. He faced trial and was eventually acquitted by the metropolitan magistrate-VIII in 2019.After examining the evidence, the court found that Boovaraghan had lodged the complaint on the instructions of Vijayarani and that both had prior reasons to be hostile towards Selvaraj. The court also relied on records of an emergency police call made by Selvaraj on the day of the incident and concluded that the complaint was lodged subsequently.The court held that the prosecution was instituted without reasonable and probable cause and with malicious intention arising from the previous motive against Selvaraj. Assessing the damages, the court awarded ₹20,000 towards expenses for defending the criminal case, ₹12,200 towards travel expenses, ₹50,000 for illegal detention, agony and hardship, ₹9,000 towards loss of work and ₹50,000 towards loss of reputation, mental agony and torture.
