SC offers Kerala govt a blow in ruckus case; Sivankutty, Jaleel and 4 others to face trial

By Express News Service
NEW DELHI/T’PURAM : The state authorities on Wednesday paid a heavy worth for ignoring warnings from the legislation division and initiating a authorized battle to withdraw legal instances registered in opposition to two present and 4 former LDF MLAs accused within the meeting ruckus case of 2015. The Supreme Court dismissed the state’s enchantment and upheld the Thiruvananthapuram chief judicial Justice of the Peace court docket’s order to go forward with prosecution proceedings, which was earlier accredited by the Kerala High Court.

V Sivankutty is stopped by the watch &ward workers as he climbs atop a chair tomake his option to finance minister Ok MMani’s seat on this picture taken onMarch 13, 2015 | ExpressConsequently, the six accused, together with General Education Minister V Sivankutty and sitting MLA Ok T Jaleel, must face prosecution for fees levelled in opposition to them below the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act of 1984. The SC order is historic because it has set a suggestion to cope with comparable instances of acts of violence occurring inside assemblies and Parliament. The court docket has drawn the road between a legislator’s privilege and the act of violence he/she commits. 

The SC bench, comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah, noticed that there was a rising recognition and consensus each within the apex court docket and in Parliament that acts of destruction of private and non-private property within the identify of protests shouldn’t be tolerated.

“Privileges and immunities are not gateways to claim exemptions from the general law of the land. To claim an exemption from the application of criminal law would be to betray the trust put in the character of elected representatives as the makers and enactors of the law. Acts of vandalism cannot be said to be manifestations of the freedom of speech and be termed as proceedings of the assembly,” the order mentioned.

Respects SC ruling, will face trial: Sivankutty

The State of Kerala and the accused individuals had raised an argument that the legal prosecution was not sustainable in opposition to the members for acts dedicated on the ground of the House as they’re protected by legislative privileges below Article 194 of the Constitution. 

“The goal of bestowing privileges and immunities on elected members of the legislature is to allow them to carry out their features with out hindrance, concern or favour. It is to create an atmosphere during which they will carry out their features and discharge their duties freely that the Constitution recognises privileges and immunities.

These privileges bear a useful relationship to the discharge of the features of a legislator. They will not be a mark of standing which makes legislators stand on an unequal pedestal,” the bench held, including that acts of vandalism can’t be mentioned to be manifestations of the liberty of speech and be termed  proceedings of the meeting. “It was not the intention of the drafters of the Constitution to extend the interpretation of ‘freedom of speech’ to include criminal acts by placing them under a veil of protest. Hence, the Constitution only grants the members the freedom of speech that is necessary for their active participation in meaningful deliberation without any fear of prosecution,” the bench added.

The court docket additionally criticised the general public prosecutor who filed the closure petition with out making use of his thoughts. The court docket reminded that the prosecutor wanted to use his thoughts in such a state of affairs and take a considered choice.

Responding to the SC verdict, Sivankutty mentioned he revered the ruling and would face trial as directed by the court docket. He dominated out his resignation as demanded by the opposition UDF. The CPM state secretariat had reached an understanding earlier that there was no want for the minister to resign even when the court docket verdict is in opposition to him because the case associated to a democratic protest and never any main crime. Moreover, there aren’t any particular remarks within the verdict in opposition to the minister.

THE IGNOMINIOUS INCIDENT

March 13, 2015The case pertains to the harm to public property, particularly on the speaker’s dais, by LDF MLAs to stop the price range presentation by Ok M Mani

The FIR alleges that legislators E P Jayarajan, Ok T Jaleel, V Sivanku-tty, Ok Ajith, C Ok Sadasivan and Ok Kunjahammed destroyed public property value I2.20 lakh

Sivankutty’s choice unprecedented?When minister V Sivankutty seems on the CJM Court to be tried as an accused in a crimi-nal case, it is going to be a spectacle not often witnessed in state’s politics. To keep away from the awkwardness of going through trial whereas in workplace, ministers from each fronts used to stop every time courts pointed fingers of suspicion at them, studies B Sreejan.