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Six Kerala oppn legislators booked for vandalising speaker's dais

Violence erupted in the assembly as the opposition tried to prevent then finance minister K M Mani from presenting the state budget following the registration of a case against him.

Trivandrum: Kerala crime branch police has registered case against six legislators belonging to Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) in connection with the violence in the assembly during the presentation of budget in March this year.
The case was registered against E P Jayarajan, V Sivankutty, K Kunjahmed, C K Sadasivan (all CPM), K T Jaleel (LDF independent) and K Ajit (CPI) for vandalising speaker's dais. They have been charged with destroying property worth Rs200, 000. The crime branch had earlier filed a first information report (FIR) in the court on the direction of the high court. They "trespassed" to the speaker's dais and destroyed mike system, computer and chair and threw away the files. Five of these MLAs were then suspended by the speaker.
Violence erupted in the assembly as the opposition tried to prevent then finance minister K M Mani from presenting the state budget following the registration of a case against him in connection with the bar bribery scam by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB).Several MLAs were also injured in the clash inside the assembly. Two opposition women MLAs had complained harassment from four MLAs belonging to the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). However, the police did not register any case against these MLAs.
Later on a petition filed by the two MLAs, Jameela Prakasham and K K Lathika, the Trivandrum Judicial First Class Magistrate registered a case against M A Vahid, A T George, Dominic Presentation, and K Sivadasan Nair.
They were charged with outrage to women's modesty, deliberate detention and attempt to harass. The case was registered by the magistrate directly under Sections 341, 341A and 354 of the Indian Penal Code. The MLAs were later granted bail.
CPM leaders have described the case against the six MLAs as part of an attempt to implicate opposition MLAs in false cases. Jayarajan, who is one of the six MLAs against whom the case has been registered, said that the police, who failed to take action against the UDF MLAs for harassing women legislators, had no moral right to register case against them.
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