THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a major setback to the Kerala government, the Chief Judicial Magistrate court here on Tuesday dismissed its plea to withdraw the case pertaining to the pandemonium in the state assembly created to disrupt the annual budget speech which was to be presented by the then Finance minister KM Mani during the previous UDF government tenure in 2015.
All the accused MLAs were directed to appear in the court on October 15.
The court made it clear that the case of destroying public properties cannot be withdrawn and criticized the government.
The offenses committed by the accused, who are all elected Members of the Legislative Assembly, are serious, the court pointed out.
Six LDF MLAs, including two ministers KT Jaleel and EP Jayarajan, were involved in the case which took place on March 13, 2015.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said that the UDF would continue its legal battle in the case till the final victory.
The court considered the case based on the petition filed by social workers MT Thomas and Peter Mayiliparambil.
The state crime branch had investigated the case and found that the accused had destroyed public properties including the chair of the Speaker.
The petitioners requested the court to not withdraw the case as the incident was widely seen by the public through television and if the court accepts the petition of the state government then the public will lose trust in the legal system.
As per the FIR submitted by the crime branch, the total loss caused due to the vandalism is estimated to be around Rs 2 lakh.
It was noted in the FIR that the Opposition MLAs were adamant in their stand that they would not allow the "tainted" minister to present the budget and had destroyed public property.
When the LDF came into power, the additional public prosecutor had sought permission to withdraw the case against then LDF MLAs K Ajith, V Sivankutty, CK Sadasivan, KT Jaleel, who is now Higher Education Minister, K Kunjammed and EP Jayarajan, who is now Industries Minister.
The petitioners had submitted that in spite of the case being posted 15 times between May 27, 2019 and June 16, 2020, the hearing of the petition is being deliberately protracted at the instance of the prosecution and the accused.