A former prosecutor who was arrested for allegedly molesting a woman on a train and later fired, on Monday filed a complaint with the National Personnel Authority, requesting a review of his dismissal.
The 40-year-old man was a prosecutor at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office and an instructor at the Justice Ministry's Research and Training Institute at the time of the incident.
He also filed a complaint with the Japan Federation of Bar Associations against four major publishing houses, on grounds that their magazines' coverage of the case was biased.
Punitive dismissals have been reversed in 34 cases in which the NPA has conducted reviews in response to filed complaints, according to the authority.
According to the Justice Ministry and other sources, the man was arrested for allegedly touching a female vocational student for 10 minutes on a JR Chuo Line train between Nakano and Yotsuya stations on the morning of May 24.
At first, he denied the charges but later reportedly admitted the facts and agreed to settle with the victim.
The amount of compensation has not been disclosed. He was fired after police released him.
The man and his lawyer argue that he did not own up to the charges, did not commit indecent acts such as placing his hands under the woman's clothing and that he agreed to the settlement in order to avoid a disturbance in his workplace.
"We are confident that it will be made clear during the process of the review that the charges were false," they said.
Meanwhile, Hiroshi Ozu, the Justice Ministry's personnel division chief, said, "We have heard from media reports that there was a complaint filed, but we have not confirmed it. We made the dismissal decision after studying the facts fully."