SC dismisses transfer plea of Nagaland’s IAS officer accused of molesting 2 minors

The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition by a Nagaland cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Reny Wilfred, 39, to shift the trial against him in a child sex abuse out of a remote district.

The sexual assault case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso) relates to 2021 when he was posted as deputy commissioner of Noklak district in east Nagaland and two minor girls, aged 14 and 17, accused him of sexual misconduct.

Wilfred, a 2015 batch officer, is currently posted as joint secretary of the state government’s finance department.

Wilfred last year approached the Gauhati high court to get the Pocso trial transferred from Tuensang district to any other special court, citing a threat to his life and apprehension that he will not get a fair trial.

The high court rejected the petition in April this year, leading the IAS official to approach the Supreme Court.

A bench of justices Aniruddha Bose and Dipankar Datta dismissed his special leave petition at the stage of admission and vacated an interim stay that it had placed on the trial.

“We do not find any reason to transfer the subject-case being Criminal Case No. G.R. 58 of 2021 in connection with SCPS Case No. 04 of 2021 to any other court as applied for in this petition,” the bench said in its brief order.

The bench, however, allowed the official to request to appear in the trial court proceedings over video conference.

“The petitioner, however, is given liberty to apply for putting in his appearance virtually and on the days of hearing on which the special court is satisfied that his personal appearance is not required, the petitioner shall be allowed to appear through virtual mode,” the top court said.