Kerala High Court no to stay proceedings in sexual abuse case

Kochi: Kerala High Court on Tuesday refused to stay the proceedings in a case registered against government pleader Dhanesh Mathew Manjooran on the charges of molesting a woman. Justice Sunil Thomas asked the state government to submit its stand on the case after  Manjooran moved the court. Manjooran submitted that he was framed by the police and that the incident as reported in the media had  not taken place.

He said that the crime was registered on the basis of the allegation that on July 14, when the complainant, an employee of a shop, was returning home after her working hours, the petitioner had caught hold of her  at the convent junction and outraged her modesty. The case had been registered under section 356(outraging the modesty of women).

Though the complainant had given a sworn affidavit in the magistrate court concerned stating that it was a case of mistaken identity, the police threatened the family members of the woman and took her to the magistrate court and recorded her statement under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.P.C.) to sabotage the affidavit, the petitioner contended.  He said  that the allegation did not constitute the ingredients of offence under section 354.

Kochi City Police Commissioner had the other day in an official statement accused the lawyer of attempting to sabotage the case.  According to the police, the family of the accused had entered into an agreement with the victim and obtained her signature on a document written in English which was submitted as her affidavit in the court.

Journos book plaint against lawyers

Mediapersons in Kochi on Tuesday registered a complaint with acting chief justice and registrar of Kerala High Court and the advocate-general accusing a group of lawyers of hurling abuses on and making an attempt to physically assault Deccan Chronicle senior reporter Rohit Raj and a senior lawyer on the court premises.

According to Mr Raj, an advocate called out to him while he was coming out of the court saying he had an objection to a report appeared in the newspaper on Tuesday on a sexual abuse case registered against government pleader Dhanesh Mathew Manjooran. As he went along with the lawyer to a corner of the court, nearly a dozen advocates surrounded him and started showering him with abuses. The lawyers pushed him around and threatened that he would not be allowed to enter the court premises again.

As media persons covering the High Court came to know about the incident and assembled in the media room in the court to prepare a petition to be submitted to the chief justice, registrar and the A-G, a group of lawyers appeared and started heckling the mediapersons. They even warned them that they will be banished from the court henceforth. The group also abused Nandagopal Nambiar, a senior lawyer who tried to reason with them. One among them also tried to kick him before others intervened and stopped him.

Mediapersons later took out a protest march from the Press Club to the High Court Advocates Association (KHCAA) office, followed by a meeting condemning the unruly behaviour of a few advocates. The mediapersons in the city had earlier boycotted a press conference called by the KHCAA in protest against the assault on Mr. Raj and Mr Nambiar. Meanwhile, the KHCAA has called off a protest demonstration they had planned against what they called the police attempt to frame Mr Manjooran in the sexual assault case.

KHCAA passes motion against cops

The Kerala High Court Advocates Association on Monday unanimously passed a resolution protesting the act of police registering a sexual abuse case against government pleader Dhanesh Mathew Manjooran. A report appeared on Tuesday in these columns, based on information provided by a section of lawyers, had said the resolution was not carried. We regret the error.
Editor.