The Kerala High Court on Monday declined to interfere in the petition filed by the CPI’s women’s wing seeking a directive to the state government to conduct an investigation against Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien in the Suryanelli sex case.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice K Vinodchandran passed the order while closing the petition filed by Kerala Mahila Sangham state committee secretary Kamala Sadanandan.
The petitioner had sought a directive to produce the records of the investigation conducted by Siby Mathews, former investigating officer, on Kurien’s role in the case.
The inquiry reports in favour of Kurien should not be taken into consideration as it was not based on an FIR, nor was it according to the terms of the Code of Criminal Procedure, it said.
Counsel for the petitioner Ranjith Thampan submitted that the victim had filed an application before the Magistrate with more or less similar pleas in the public interest litigation. However at the time of filing of the PIL, no such steps were initiated by the victim, hence the Sangham approached the HC.
“In the light of the victim herself proceeding with the case, the court finds no ground to entertain the PIL. Hence it is closed,” the Bench held.