The State of Kerala has filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court seeking the withdrawal the cases relating to the violence in the state assembly in 2015 in which two ministers and four former legislators of the ruling front are accused for the ruckus and vandalism caused. The SLP is filed against the March 12 judgment of a single bench of the Kerala High Court which had dismissed the state’s revision petition against the refusal of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Thiruvananthapuram, to allow the withdrawal of prosecution in these cases under Section 321 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
A single bench of Justice VG Arun had observed that the withdrawal of prosecution “will not advance public justice”. The High Court had also rejected the argument that the accused were entitled to protection of legislative privileges, observing that the alleged acts were not “acts done in furtherance of the free functioning of the house.” In the plea before the Top Court, the Kerala Government say that the acts happened during a protest staged against the presentation of budget by the then Finance Minister KM Mani, who was facing allegations of involvement in bar-bribery scam. The House had witnessed ruckus in March 2015 after opposition LDF legislators prevented then Finance Minister K M Mani from presenting the state budget. Angry members snapped mikes, destroyed furniture and damaged lights in the melee and two legislators were later hospitalized.
