MANJERI: The Manjeri Chief Judicial Magistrate Court on Thursday awarded one-year rigorous imprisonment for the 16 men accused in a case pertaining to the attack on journalists at the Karipur International Airport in connection with ice-cream parlour sex scandal. Of the 23 accused, all workers of the Indian Union Muslim League(IUML), 21 were found guilty by the Court, which acquitted two persons, Shihab and Sudheerbabu, who had been listed as 18th and 20th accused in the case. The other five accused are absconding and the Court has pronounced arrest warrant against them.
The incident occurred at the Karipur airport on November 1, 2004, during a reception accorded to Muslim League leader P K Kunhalikutty, who was returning from Saudi Arabia after performing ‘Umrah’ at Mecca. Muslim League activists unleashed a violent attack on the journos who were present there to cover his arrival, following the resurfacing of the sex scandal with revelations of victim Rejina that Kunhalikutty had sexually exploited her when she was a minor.
It was in reaction to this news, the Muslim League activists attacked journalists Kunhalikutty was then the party state general secretary and Industries Minister under the Oommen Chandy-led UDF government.
As many as 15 journalists including ‘Asianet’ reporter V M Deepa and cameraman K P Ramesh, reporter of ‘Kerala Sabdham’ Pradeep Ushas, ‘Kairali’ correspondent Shailesh, ‘NTV’ correspondent Sajeev C Warrier, ‘Indiavision’ reporter Biju Muraleedharan, ‘The New Indian Express’ photographer N P Jayan, ‘Surya TV’ reporter Jayan Komath, ‘Kerala Shabdham’ reporter Koyamu, ‘Jeevan TV’ correspondent Ayyappadas and cameraman Suresh had suffered injuries in the attack.