No withdrawing of case in assembly ruckus incident: Kerala govt to court after flak

Facing flak over its decision to withdraw a case against six of the then LDF MLAs in the Kerala assembly ruckus incident of 2015, the CPI(M)-led government today made a U-turn and informed a court here it won't do so.
When the matter came up before the chief judicial magistrate court today, the public prosecutor submitted that the state government has decided not to withdraw the case.
The court then directed all the six accused to appear before it on March 21.
The assembly had witnessed unprecedented and ugly scenes on March 13, 2015 as LDF members tried to prevent then finance minister K M Mani, who was facing charges in the bar bribery scam, from presenting the state budget.

Besides flinging the speaker's chair from the podium, electronic equipment like computers, keyboard and mikes on the desk of the presiding officer were also damaged by LDF members.
The Pinarayi Vijayan government yesterday announced that the case would be withdrawn.

The decision triggered widespread protest and condemnation from various quarters. Opposition leader in the assembly and former home minister Ramesh Chennithala had deplored the government move and demanded that its reconsider its decision.
The government had decided to withdraw the case considering a petition by V Sivankutty, CPI(M) leader and former MLA who was one among the accused in the case.

Sivankutty last month wrote to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, seeking withdrawal of the police case against him and five other LDF members, alleging that it was a "politically motivated" case.
Of them, K T Jaleel is the state minister for Local Self-government in the present LDF government.
The case was registered during the previous UDF rule against the six LDF MLAs under relevant sections of Prevention of Destruction of Public Property Act and IPC sections 447 (criminal trespass) and 427 (mischief causing damage).