Contempt plea filed against Jaleel for allegations against Lokayukta
An office-bearer of the Lawyers’ Congress, Rajiv Charachira, stated in his plead that his (Jaleel’s) insinuations were in bad taste and were aimed at denigrating a constitutional body.
A day after former Kerala minister K T Jaleel raised serious allegations against Lokayukta, a contempt petition was filed against him on Monday at the anti-corruption body even as the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) distanced itself from the CPI(M)-backed legislator’s statements.
An office-bearer of the Lawyers’ Congress, Rajiv Charachira, stated in his plead that his (Jaleel’s) insinuations were in bad taste and were aimed at denigrating a constitutional body.
He said, “Jaleel made personal charges against Lokayukta justice Cyriac Joseph and tried to cast aspersions on some of the verdicts made by him earlier.” He also filed a complaint to state police chief Anil Kant.
In another development, Jaleel posted another social media message on Monday criticising Joseph. In his latest Facebook post, he alleged that Joseph tried to sabotage sister Abhaya’s murder case and when he was in the Supreme Court for three-and-a-half years he announced only six verdicts.
“When my case came up, he took a decision in 12 days even without hearing me. It seems his verdict was faster than light,” he said. He also alleged Lokayukta’s move was aimed at blocking the second term of the Pinarayi Vijayan government.
The ruling LDF decided to keep distance from his controversial statements.“His post was based on his personal experiences and the LDF has nothing to say about it,” said CPI secretary Kanam Rajendran. The CPI(M) has also instructed its leaders to not comment on the matter. Meanwhile, a legal expert said that the Lokayukta can take up contempt suo motu or it can hear a plea filed by somebody questioning the controversial statement.
Last year, Jaleel had resigned from the Vijayan government after the Lokayukta found him to have lobbied for a relative to be appointed as the general manager of the State Minority Welfare Corporation. It found that he diluted some of the qualifications required for the post. Though Jaleel moved the high court and Supreme Court, both refused to entertain his plea.
The latest controversy erupted at a time when the government was planning an ordinance to dilute powers of the anti-corruption body. In his post on Sunday Jaleel alleged that the Lokayukta “will do anything for money and position” and that the Congress-led UDF was using him as a weapon to stab chief minister Vijayan in the back.
Jaleel also alleged that a senior UDF leader was saved from a controversial case in 2005 when the Lokayukta was a judge in the Kerala high court and in turn he managed a plum post for his sister-in-law. Jaleel was indirectly referring to the appointment of Jancy James as the vice chancellor of the Mahathma Gandhi University in Kottayam.
“It is a tragedy that a weapon meant for Gandhiji is getting into the hands of Godse. If he gets good returns, he will do any job. When three central agencies gave me a clean chit in trumped-up case, he appeared all of a sudden to weaken the government,” Jaleel said. Later he also posted about the verdict in the ice cream parlour case, a sex scandal in which Muslim League leader P K Kunhalikutty’s name allegedly cropped up but later the Supreme Court gave him a clean chit.
BLURB Jaleel posted another message on his social media accusing Joseph of sabotaging sister Abhaya’s murder case