Nine complaints filed against ex-Kerala minister Cherian over remarks on Constitution
On Wednesday chief judicial magistrate court in Thiruvalla (Pathanamthitta) directed the police to register a case against him over charges of insulting the national honour. Later, he was booked under Section 2 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act 1971 which attracts three-year jail or fine, or both.
After Kerala culture and fisheries minister Saji Cherian resigned from his post on Wednesday for allegedly insulting the Constitution, nine complaints were filed against him across different police stations in the state, an official in the know of the developments said on Thursday.
On Wednesday chief judicial magistrate court in Thiruvalla (Pathanamthitta) directed the police to register a case against him over charges of insulting the national honour. Later, he was booked under Section 2 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act 1971 which attracts three-year jail or fine, or both.
The complaints have been shifted to Thiruvalla deputy superintendent police, T Rajappan Ravuther , who will be dealing with all the complaints.
Amid the row over Cherian’s Constitution remark, the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) has intervened to drop the grand reception planned for him on Thursday evening in Chengannur, his assembly seat.
The development took place as the party did not want to give an impression that the they were glorifying his act, a senior leader said, adding his utterances invited enough embarrassment to the party and government.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayani has taken up the additional responsibility of portfolios vacated by Cherian which include culture, fisheries and film. There are also reports that he may return to the cabinet after clearing complaints against him like E P Jayarajan and A K Saseendran in the first Vijayan cabinet but legal experts said that it won’t be easy for him to wriggle out of the complaints easily. The opposition Congress and BJP have asked him to quit his legislator post also. They said the oath of the MLA was also taken on the basis of the Constitution.
“He is saying it is a slip of tongue, not the breach of oath of the office. He also said he took the decision independently. The party is also silent on this. He should quit his MLA post also,” said Opposition leader V D Satheesan. But CPI(M) leaders refused to comment further saying the issue was closed after his resignation. The party central leadership also maintained that “he committed a mistake and did not breach the oath of office.”
Cherian courted trouble after his speech during a party event at Mallapally in Pathanamthitta on June 3 in which he allegedly insulted the Constitution came to the fore. Criticising the Constitution, he said it was reduced to an instrument to “plunder the working class.” “We all say we have a beautifully written Constitution. But we blindly copied the British system and wrote a Constitution. It never provides any safeguard against exploitation. It helps plundering common man and working class,” he had said.
“The Constitution was fine-tuned adding democracy and secularism here and there to make it beautiful. But its exploitative part is quite evident. We proudly followed it in 75 years. It condones labour exploitation. That is why Ambani, Adani and their ilk grow here” he had said.
