Vishwanathan was suspended from service and had to spend three years in prison in a legal battle that stretched for more than a decade.
Published Sep 03, 2025 | 3:31 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 03, 2025 | 3:31 PM
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Synopsis: He maintained that the charges were retaliation for exposing large-scale exam malpractice at the college, where several students had been caught cheating. Courts initially convicted him in part of the cases, but he continued to appeal, ultimately securing a clean acquittal after ten years.
A decade after facing false charges of sexual abuse by female students, Professor Anand Vishwanathan, former Additional Chief Examiner at Munnar Govt College, has been acquitted by the Thodupuzha Additional Sessions Court.
The case goes back to 2014, when five female students accused Vishwanathan of sexual assault.
Allegations later surfaced that the complaint was manufactured with the backing of certain college staff and prepared at a local CPM office in Munnar.
The legal battle snatched more than a decade of Vishwanathan life. He had to spend three years in prison and was suspended from service thereafter.
He maintained that the charges were retaliation for exposing large-scale exam malpractice at the college, where several students had been caught cheating.
Courts initially convicted him in part of the cases, but he continued to appeal, ultimately securing a clean acquittal after ten years.
The battle-worn professor recalled his ordeal and said, “Malpractices were rampant in the college without guidelines of the varsity being properly followed. On that fateful day, Economics exam of second-semester were being held. Out of the eight candidates who took the exam, I caught five female students red-handed for cheating. Despite escalating the complaint, the fellow invigilator tried to brush-off the matter following objections by CPM leader and former MLA S Rajendran.”
“When I came back after Onam vacations, I found that the complaint for exam malpractice was never registered, and neither was the matter reported to the university. It was later when I came to know that charges of sexual assault were being pressed against me by the five students. I personally lodged a plaint with the varsity against them. However, the inquiry was shoddy and one-sided. Out of the four cases, the court found me guilty in two, leading to my suspension. But, I fought with courage and determination,” he added.
CPM leader S Rajendran junked the “baseless” allegations made by Vishwanathan. He said that students had approached him after filing a complaint, claiming that the professor was behaving harshly, and he discussed the matter with the principal. Other than that, he claimed that the CPM was not involved.
(Edited by Amit Vasudev)
