Assembly vandalism case: Kerala court asks Minister to be present to hear charges

Thiruvananthapuram, July 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) A court here on Wednesday asked Kerala Education Minister V. Sivankutty and five others to be present before it on September 14, when the charge sheet of the case against them for allegedly indulging in vandalism in the Assembly in 2015 comes up.

When the case came up in the local court here, the court, seeing none of the accused leaders present, passed an order asking all the accused to be present on September 14 when the charge sheet would be read out.

The Kerala government had previously approached the Supreme Court seeking withdrawal of the criminal cases against these six leaders, but it ruled that there is no immunity or privilege to protect legislators indulging in vandalism during a House session.

The apex court had asked all of them to face trial.

This had created a political furore with the Congress and the BJP demanding Sivankutty's resignation, but the CPI-M rejected it.

Of the six accused, Sivankutty and former minister K.T. Jaleel are members of the present Assembly. The other accused are Left Democratic Front convenor E.P. Jayarajan, C.K. Sadasivan, Kunhuahmed Master, and K. Ajith.

They all were charged under the prevention of damage to public property act and other provisions.

Told about the court order, Sivankutty said if the court has said so, he will be present in the court on that day.

The Assembly had witnessed violent scenes in March 2015, after the then Left opposition tried to prevent the then Finance Minister K.M. Mani from presenting the budget, alleging his role in the bar bribery case.

Source: IANS