A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday orally expressed its dissatisfaction with the affidavits filed by the police officers including Kiran Narayanan, former Thiruvananthapuram city police commissioner and the Station House Officers of Vanchiyoor and Cantonment police stations in Thiruvananthapuam and Central Police station in Kochi in a contempt of court initiated against them and the political leaders including CPI(M) State Secretary M.V.Govindan.
The contempt of court petition has been filed by N. Prakash of Kochi for violating the High Court directive banning meetings and demonstrations on roads and footpaths. The proceedings are being initiated against the CPI(M) leaders for putting up a stage on a road at Vachinyoor to hold a local party meeting.
While the CPI State leaders including Binoy Viswam are to be proceeded against for participating in a dharna organised by the Government secretariat employee organization on the footpath in front of the Secretariat, Congress leaders in Kochi are being hauled up for holding a meeting on the footpath near the Kochi Corporation office.
When the contempt of court petition was taken up for hearing, the Bench comprising Justice Anil K. Narendran and Justice Muralee Krishna S. orally observed that “prima facie we are not satisfied with the affidavit of the police officers which contain “mere unconditional apology.”
The affidavits were filed by Shanif H.S., Prajeesh Sasi, and Anish Joy, Station House Officers respectively of Vanchiyoor, Cantonment and Central stations, apart from Kiran Narayanan and G. Sparjan Kumar, Inspector General of police.
Meanwhile, the court dispensed with the personal appearance of all those who appeared before the court on Monday including the political leaders such as M.Vijayakumar, Pannian Raveendran, V.K .Prasanth, MLA, and Dominic Presentation for the time being. The court had last week exempted Mr. Govindan from personally appearing before the court on February 10 and asked him to appear on February 12. The court granted three weeks time to all the respondents to file affidavits.
Published – February 10, 2025 07:22 pm IST