Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien, who is in the eye of a storm in connection with the allegations stemming out of the 17-year-old Suryanelli rape case, speaks to Express on the twists and turns and the politics which are keeping the case alive.
Excerpts from an interview he gave to The New Indian Express, where he says Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley defended him in the SC because he knows he was not involved. Defence Minister A K Antony supports him even though some in his own party are trying to sabotage him as there is “no truth’’ in the allegations:
Q: What do you have to say on new allegations that have come in the Suryanelli rape case. Since you are the Deputy Chairman in the Rajya Sabha, the issue acquires another dimension?
A: I’ve been exonerated by the highest court, the High Court and the three inquiries. Only one of the inquiries was held by the UDF Government led by A K Antony and the other two were by the LDF Government headed by E K Nayanar. The case was heard for days in the court and the girl (the Suryenelli victim) was represented by very senior counsel, the likes of N Natarajan and Harish Salve. A political party organized all that. So, it was no way a one-sided case.
Q: Are you trying to say that it’s a political allegation? But the girl is saying that she has not been heard properly in the last 17 years?
A: I’m the wronged one. When the lower court first issued the summons to me, it was on the basis of the girl’s allegations. They did not hear my side before summoning me. I’ve gone to court, cleared my name on the basis of facts examined by the court - what more can I do? This is going on for 17 years, before each election it is brought up. But let me also point out that despite all this, I was elected to the Lok Sabha six times uninterrupted. It is a political vendetta.
Q: Why then have the charges been resurfacing against you? There are other Congress leaders in Kerala, why were you singled out by the political opponent?
A: May be because Kurien has supporters among all communities. Because he was unanimously elected Deputy Chairman in the Rajya Sabha, some plan to remove him. Please note that it was when (late) E K Nayanar was Chief Editor, Deshabhimani, the CPM mouthpiece, a news report had first appeared (saying Prof Kurien is also involved). This was two months after the FIR in the main Suryanelli case was filed in which I was nowhere there. Also the timing - it appeared just three days before I submitted my nomination in the 1996 polls. I had subsequently filed a defamation case against Nayanar and against the girl. The Nayanar-led LDF government could not find any evidence against me - the same probe team constituted by the then Chief Minister, which chargesheeted all the accused, found me innocent.
Q: But Dharmarajan (the lawyer convicted in the case) is contradicting the evidence…
A: He’s an absconder. A convict can say anything with a little money. He’s making these claims the first time after 17 years obviously under pressure from the people who are hiding him (from law). He was a CPM activist and a DYFI leader.
Q: He’s saying he drove you to the location of crime…
A: The court examined it. It was not possible to travel to the location of the alleged crime from Thiruvalla to Kumili - a hilly terrain and at that time roads were worse - and be back to my residence to within five or say four hours to make a call at 10.20 in the night (which has been established). The court concluded it was impossible within the available time.
Q: Why is it being repeated?
A: The guest house they are talking about is a panchayat guest house. Its charges are some 2/3 rupees, situated in the middle of a market place in my old constituency. Am I a fool? I would have been easily identified. No Union Minister, and I was one at that time, will go to such a place from his Shajahan Road residence a stone’s throw from the Taj Mansingh Hotel (in Delhi.)
Q: Did you give all these details to your party president Sonia Gandhi and the Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari?
A: Yes, I have. The complaint against me has been examined by the police three times and by the Supreme Court two times. It was the Supreme Court which directed me to file the discharge case and I’ve been fully exonerated.
Q: Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley represented you in the Supreme Court?
A: Yes, he represented me because he knew that I was not involved. He could make out from the evidence that I was innocent. The final decision of the Supreme Court exonerating me came in 2007. Why did V S Achuthanandan, who was the Chief Minister, raise a word against the judgment then? Why did they not go for a review? I know he and some members of my own party are instigating it now. He will raise anything without thinking--that is Kerala politics. Neither he nor the girl raised a word against the judgment then. After more than five years, this issue is being raked up by the CPM, with an eye on the next general elections.
Q: But you are now in the Rajya Sabha…
A: I’ve defeated CPM stalwarts continuously for five times. There’s more. The girl, in an interview to Vanita, a woman’s magazine, has said she’s fully satisfied with the inquiry in the case. It is part of court records.
One of the close friends of the girl’s father, one Mr Mohanan, who went along with him to file the complaint against me, revealed to another Malayalam magazine, Mangalam, last year that the case against me was fabricated and politically motivated.
Q: The main Opposition party is saying you should step down till you are cleared.
A: I am already in the clear. BJP leader Murli Manmohar Joshi told the media, not me, that Kurien need not resign. Now some local leaders are coming and pressurising them.
Q: In your party also many feel that it could get difficult, but that you’ve Antony’s support?
A: Antony only supports the truth. He’ll not support me or any other person, not even his own family, if they are in the wrong. Make no mistake, it is not support to me individually, he knows there’s no truth in the allegation. He was the first to get it investigated. Do you think he would have allowed a cover up? Never ever.