The Supreme Court today dismissed the Pinarayi Vijayan government’s plea seeking withdrawal of cases against prominent CPI(M) leaders in the alleged 2015 vandalism case in the Kerala Assembly when the party was in the Opposition. Following the 2015 ruckus in the assembly, criminal cases were lodged against LDF MLAs.
The apex court ruled that the act of the accused MLAs was beyond constitutional limits and does not come under the immunity granted to the legislators by the Constitution. The Bar and Bench reported the court as saying that committing destruction of property in the assembly cannot be equated to freedom of speech in the house. “Allowing withdrawal of cases under these circumstances would amount to interference with the normal course of justice for illegitimate reasons,” the top court noted.
Kerala BJP today hit out at the Left government demanding the state minister’s resignation. “The Supreme Court has slammed the Kerala government over the Kerala Assembly case today. This shows how the Kerala government is functioning. State minister Sivankutty should resign and face trial as there are serious charges against him,” said Kerala BJP President K Surendran.
The state assembly had witnessed unprecedented scenes on March 13, 2015, as LDF members, then in opposition, tried to prevent then finance minister K M Mani, who was facing allegations in the bar bribery scam, from presenting the state budget. Besides flinging the speaker’s chair from the podium, electronic equipment like computers, keyboards and mikes on the desk of the presiding officer was also allegedly damaged by the then LDF members.
In its plea filed in the apex court against the March 12 order of the high court, the Kerala government had claimed that the high court had failed to appreciate that the alleged incident had occurred while the Assembly was in session and no crime could have been registered without the previous sanction of the Speaker.
Today’s SC verdict upheld the Kerala High Court’s judgment which said that admissibility of evidence and other issues will be looked into by the trial court.