Court asks 6 accused to appear on Oct 15 in Assembly uproar case

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government plea to withdraw a 2015 case registered against six sitting legislators at that time on charges of causing assembly disruption and damaging property the Assembly was dismissed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate's a court in the capital, which directed the accused to personally appear in court on October 15.

Those asked to appear in the court are present Industries Minister EP Jayarajan and Higher Education Minister KT Jaleel and four others -- V Sivankutty, K Kunju Ahamed, CK Sadasivan and K Ajith -- who are no more members of the House. The event took place when the current opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) was in power.

Following a request by one of the accused, Sivankutty to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the government decided to seek withdrawal of the case, even though a Crime Branch probe had reportedly found wrongdoing on the part of the then Left lawmakers.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala too had become a party in the petition to withdraw the case, maintaining that it should not be done as public property was destroyed by responsible persons.

The accused had allegedly indulged in vandalism on March 13, 2015, when then Kerala Finance Minister KM Mani was presenting the state Budget.

The then Opposition led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist had protested that Mani -- accused of taking Rs one crore in bribe from a bar owner for reopening bars in Kerala -- should not be allowed to present the Budget.

Vowed to block Mani from presenting the budget, the Left legislators dashed to the Speaker's dais when he started his speech, threw the Speaker's chair from the dais and damaged electronic equipment installed on his table, besides meddling with other furniture of the hall.

After the incident, then Speaker N Sakthan had sought a Crime Branch probe that blamed the six accused for the Assembly pell-mell.

(With input from IANS)