Sivankutty, Jayarajan to be present in the dock on Sept. 14

HC had declined to stay further proceedings in the Assembly ruckus case

General Education Minister V. Sivankutty, Left Democratic Front (LDF) convener E.P. Jayarajan and the other accused in the Assembly ruckus case will have to line up inside the dock of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court (CJM), Thiruvananthapuram, next week to face the trial.

The Kerala High Court had on Friday declined to stay further proceedings in the case.

R. Rekha, the CJM, will read out and explain the charges prepared against the accused and seek their response to it on September 14. If the accused pleads guilty, the court will award them punishment as prescribed by law. The magistrate will fix the date for examining the witnesses if the accused denies the charges levelled against them.

The politically high profile accused will have to be present inside the dock for the accused inside the court hall for the magistrate to read out the charges. The magistrate can do away with their personal appearance if they seek exemption after providing satisfactory reasons. The court has the power to reject the plea and issue non-bailable warrant against the accused in the event of them failing to appear before the court on the day.

The personal appearance of the accused here will be warranted on the day as the High Court had declined their pleas to exempt them from appearing in person before the trial court.

K. Balachandra Menon, the Deputy Director of Prosecution, is likely to appear for the State to prosecute the accused as the State government had not paid heed to the Opposition demand for a special prosecutor in the case. Former Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala had also raised the demand for a special prosecutor.

K. T. Jaleel, MLA, and former legislators K. Ajith and C.K. Sadasivan are the other accused in the case that was booked in connection with the unruly incidents that took place on the floor of the Assembly during the tenure of the Oommen Chandy government.

The legislators had stormed into the dais of the Assembly Speaker on March 13, 2015, and destroyed the electronic equipment in their attempt to prevent the then Finance Minister K.M. Mani from presenting the annual budget.