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An elaborate trap
 A judicial magistrate of Palacode, Dharmapuri district, was recently sought to be entangled in a 'sexual' controversy. Several facts are now emerging in the case, causing speculation in police circles.
On June 21, at 11 p.m., the police received a message from a village called Kavapet, a hamlet which is one km away from Palacode, informing them that the judicial magistrate of Palcacode was caught by the villagers when he allegedly tried to rape 28-year-old Selvi of the same village.
Immediately, the police rushed to the spot and rescued the magistrate. During the police inquiry, Selvi reported that her husband Periasamy was an illicit liquor trader and he had been arrested. When she went to the Palacode court to get bail for her husband, the magistrate, on several occasions looked at her with 'longing', she charged.
She also alleged that through a messenger he also called upon her to contact him at his house and he would grant bail for her husband to which she did not oblige. But subsequently her husband got bail.
Selvi further reported that on June 21, at 11 p.m., somebody knocked at her door, and she was surprised to see the magistrate standing there. She let him in, and told him that her husband had gone out.
 Her version is that on hearing this, the magistrate bolted the door from inside and tried to molest her. Hearing her screams, the villagers came to her rescue, caught hold of the magistrate and informed the police. Selvi also preferred a complaint to the police requesting action against magistrate Panneerselvam for attempting to molest her.
Enquiries revealed that Panneerselvam was a sincere officer and he dealt sternly with liquor barons of the area by convicting them to imprisonment and he had also been very strict regarding granting them bail.
The judicial magistrate also preferred a complaint to the police stating that as he had convicted several liquor barons of the area, the enraged bootleggers, with the assistance of the local advocates, kidnapped him and brought him to Kavapet village, attacked him mercilessly and deliberately entangled him in a sexual controversy.
But police inquiries revealed that the magistrate had left from Dharmapuri at 8 p.m. by a bus on the day of the incident and he also went to the village to Periasamy's house by an auto. The auto driver also had confirmed that he had taken the magistrate to the village.
In the meantime, Selvi had absconded after giving the complaint and this had also created suspicion. The police were confused as to what had actually happened.
 At last the riddle seems to be nearing a solution. According to the police sources, the real sequence of events was that the magistrate was very strict in dealing with the liquor barons. So the bootleggers got together and hatched a conspiracy. That portion was true.
However, with a view to enticing and trapping him, they arranged for Selvi to contact him through phone and invite him to her residence at night. The mistake the magistrate made was to visit her residence.
As already planned, they created a scene and entangled the magistrate in a 'sexual' controversy.
This incident should be an eye-opener to all officers. It is not only
important for an officer to be sincere and straightforward but is also important that his conduct is seen as above board. He should particularly steer clear of traps, however tempting they may be.
Harvey
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