Assembly ruckus case: Cong describes Kerala HC verdict as set back to govt

A day after the Kerala High Court quashed the case registered against three Congress leaders in connection with the Assembly ruckus incident, the opposition party on Saturday said the verdict was a setback to the government's alleged attempt to weaken the case.

Welcoming the verdict, the Congress said if a trial was held in the 2015 case, CPI (M) leaders including General Education Minister V Sivankutty would be punished, he said.

In a statement, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan alleged the Left government was trying to prolong the trial by making false cases to avoid this.

The entire world witnessed the violence of the CPI (M) legislators, he said adding there has never been a case with so many witnesses.

So, the High Court ruling was a 'setback' to the government's alleged attempt to weaken the case by abusing the legal system, Satheesan added.

The Kerala HC on Friday quashed the criminal proceedings against three Congress leaders, including two sitting MLAs, who were accused of wrongfully restraining and outraging the modesty of two then LDF MLAs amidst the ruckus in the state assembly in 2015. The ruckus occurred in the state assembly as the LDF MLAs tried to prevent the then state Finance Minister K M Mani from presenting the budget and demanded his resignation over corruption allegations against him.

Justice P V Kunhikrishnan quashed the cases against the three Congress leaders on the ground that the complaints and the statements recorded at the pre-cognisance stage "would not attract the offences under sections 341 (wrongful restraint) or 354 (outraging modesty of women) of the IPC".