Madras HC directs police not to ‘harass’ Rippling co-founder
The petitioner stated that the Chennai cops were arbitrarily harassing him, interfering in a civil matter between him and his wife
The Madras high court on Thursday directed the police not to “harass” software firm Rippling co-founder Prasanna Sankaranarayanan, who is embroiled in a bitter divorce battle with his estranged wife.
An X thread went viral earlier this week where the tech co-founder accused his wife of filing false cases in a bid to abduct their son and take him out of the country amid ongoing matrimonial disputes between them.
Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan allowed and disposed of Sankaranarayanan’s petition urging the court to exercise its jurisdiction under Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita’s Section 528 to direct the police to not harass him under the guise of a probe.
Senior advocates Geeta Luthra and A Ramesh, representing Sankaranarayanan, filed the petition before the court on March 24, alleging the police have been harassing him at his wife’s behest.
Sankaranarayanan, in his petition, told the Court that the Chennai police had been arbitrarily harassing him, interfering in a civil matter between him and his wife, and that the police were forcibly trying to take his son away from him. He told the court that his son was in his custody and was “happy, safe, and well cared for.”
The petition claimed police made repeated attempts to enter his hotel room and vacation rental in Chennai to take his son away between March 7 and 12. It added the police visited Bengaluru and allegedly harassed his mother and friend, forcing them to ask him to hand his son over to the police.
The plea blamed “false and malicious complaint” of Sankaranarayanan’s wife for the police action against him, his family and friends. It said Sankaranarayanan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with his wife in February this year, agreeing to a divorce by mutual consent and joint custody of their son. The plea said they agreed to reside in Chennai and to keep their son’s travel documents secured in a joint locker.
The plea said the wife then reportedly travelled to Chennai and handed over the son’s custody to Sankaranarayanan voluntarily on March 3. She then allegedly filed a false complaint against him and violated the MoU by refusing to deposit their son’s travel documents in a joint locker.
She has also refused to appear before a Chennai court where their divorce case is pending, the plea added.
