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HC rejects Kerala govt’s plea to drop assembly ruckus case
Two ministers from the present state cabinet and four former legislators are accused in the case.
In a setback to the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) ahead of the April 6 assembly elections, the Kerala high court on Friday rejected the Pinarayi Vijayan government’s plea to withdraw a criminal caserelating to the violence in the state assembly in 2015 during the previous Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) regime.
Two ministers from the present state cabinet and four former legislators are accused in the case.
Rejecting the plea, a single bench of Justice V J Arun said withdrawing the case involving thebehavior of the lawmakersin the House cannot be justified and directed all the accused to face legal proceedings.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has filed a plea, urging the court not to withdraw the case to avoid setting a bad precedent.
The high court’s move will be challenged in the Supreme Court, a government spokesperson said.
In March 2015, the House witnessed a ruckus after then opposition LDF legislators prevented finance minister K M Mani, who was facing charges in a bribery case, from presenting the state budget. The members snapped mikes, destroyed furniture and damaged lights in the melee that ensued. Two legislators were later hospitalised.
The session was live when the violent incidents unfolded, prompting the then speaker N Sakthan to file a police complaint against six LDF legislators, including E P Jayarajan and K T Jaleel who are serving as industries minister and education minister, respectively, in the present Vijayan cabinet.
In his complaint, the speaker said property worth ₹2.5 lakh was damaged and also accused the legislators of trying to manhandle the members of the treasury bench. The case was filed under Prevention of Destruction of Public Property Act and sections 447 (criminal trespass) and 427 (mischief causing damage) of the Indian Penal Code.
Interestingly, after Mani’s death in 2019, his son took the party, Kerala Congress (Mani), to the LDF camp.
Earlier, the present state government invoked the privilege of the house to justify its decision to withdraw the case but the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Thiruvanthapuram rejected this on grounds that privilege did not serve as a license to carry out violent activities.
During a discussion in the Assembly last year, Vijayan had said that assembly proceedings should not be dragged to the courts. The government later moved the high court which refused to entertain the plea.
Among the six legislators facing the case, K T Jaleel and V Sivankutty are seeking re-election this time from Thavanoor and Nemom, respectively.
K Ajith, C K Sadasivan and K Kunhammed are the remaining former legislators accused in the case.
