South Central 49: EC’s Push for SIR and High Courts on Sexual Assault Cases
The podcast South Central explores key issues shaping southern India. In this episode, hosts Dhanya Rajendran and Anisha Seth are joined by activist-psephologist Yogendra Yadav and former lawyer-journalist Sukanya Shaji.
Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Voter Rolls
The discussion begins with the Election Commission’s (EC) Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls and the controversies it has sparked. Yogendra Yadav criticizes the EC, stating it is “no longer acting as a neutral, constitutional body” and that many of its press conferences feel like “PR exercises.”
“The ECI has not learnt that a large-scale exercise like the SIR mandates the question of whether this was the right move at all. ECI decided that SIR is the medicine and started looking for a disease to fit that.”
High Court Orders on Sexual Assault Cases
The panel then examines two recent high court decisions, one from Kerala and one from Karnataka. In Kerala, a Bengali woman actor accused director Ranjith of sexual harassment in 2024, related to an incident from 2009, following the publication of the Hema Committee report.
In Karnataka, a woman reported sexual assault by a man she met through a dating app. Both high courts quashed the FIRs in these cases, which Sukanya Shaji describes as “not a good precedent.”
“Quashing FIRs in such sensitive cases sets a concerning precedent.”
These discussions highlight challenges in voter roll revisions and judicial responses to sexual assault allegations in southern India.
Author's summary: This episode critiques the Election Commission’s voter roll initiative and examines high court rulings on sexual assault FIRs, raising concerns about neutrality and legal precedents.