Police may arrest Periyar University V-C if he fails to cooperate with SC/ST case probe: Madras High Court

Periyar University Vice-Chancellor R. Jagannathan. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Madras High Court on Tuesday (April 29, 2025) made it clear that it would be open to the Tamil Nadu police arresting Periyar University Vice-Chancellor R. Jagannathan if he failed to cooperate with the authorities in the investigation of a case registered against him under the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, or attempted to tamper with the evidence.

Justice P. Velmurugan passed the orders, while partly allowing a criminal appeal filed by the police in 2023 against the refusal of a judicial magistrate in Salem to remand the vice-chancellor to judicial custody, as well as the order passed by the magistrate granting bail to the accused. The judge opined that there was no error whatsoever in refusing to remand the accused.

He, however, held that the magistrate had no jursidiction to grant bail to the accused, as the offences alleged against him were triable only by a sessions court and there was an express bar for grant of bail in SC/ST cases without hearing the victim concerned. Justice Velmurugan confirmed the magistrate’s order to the extent of refusing to remand the accused but set aside the grant of bail.

Further, the judge directed the accused to extend his fullest cooperation in the investigation and said: “In case he fails to cooperate or the prosecution finds that he is trying to tamper with the evidence, it is always open to the investigating officer to arrest the first respondent (vice-chancellor) and take him to judicial custody and complete the investigation in accordance with the law.”

What is the case about?

The Salem police had registered the case against the vice-chancellor in 2023 on the basis of a complaint lodged by E. Elangovan, president of the Periyar University Labour Union, accusing the V-C of having misused his office for private benefits by starting an entity named Periyar University Technology Entrepreneurship and Research (PUTER) Foundation, which was involved in multiple activities.

According to the complainant, the PUTER Foundation had been allotted space inside the university campus without the approval of the Senate or the Syndicate. When this irregularity was questioned, the V-C used slur words referring to his caste, the complainant alleged, and accused the V-C of having misappropriated a huge amount of money through the foundation.

Therefore, the police had registered the case under various provisions, including Section 409 (criminal breach of trust), of the Indian Penal Code as well as the SC/ST Act. However, when they arrested the vice-chancellor on December 26, 2023, and produced him before the magistrate, the latter refused to remand and also granted bail, forcing the prosecution to file the present criminal appeal.