In a strange move, Kerala’s Congress president VM Sudheeran on Thursday unleashed criticisms against the High Court which, while granting anticipatory bail to Hindu community leader Vellappally Natesan in a case pertaining to alleged hate speech, observed that prima facie the speech did not seem to contain anything that could promote religious enmity.
“The High Court’s observations on the merit of the Prosecution case (on the hate speech issue) in the judgement granting bail to Vellappally Natesan has been absolutely wrong and inappropriate and in violation of the limits of the court’s authority concerning granting of bail,” Sudheeran said in a statement.
The Kerala Police had booked Vellappally, general secretary of the SNDP Yogam, outfit of Hindu lower caste Ezhavas who constitute over 21 per cent of the State’s population, on the basis of a complaint lodged by Sudheeran. High Court judge P Bhavadasan had on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to Vellappally and refused to see anything illegal in the controversial speech.
In his statement, Sudheeran pointed out that the police were currently taking steps to record statements of people including those belonging to different religions and to collect facts and evidences in connection with the charge that Vellappally’s speech had caused hatred among different religions.
“In such a situation, it was not at all appropriate on the court’s part to make observations on the merits of the case only on the basis of the bail application and without even examining the case diary. Such observations could adversely affect the investigation in the case which has reached only the initial stages,” the State Congress chief said.
Sudheeran added that “such observations” were against the Supreme Court judgements that had stipulated that merits of a case should not be analyzed while granting bail. Congress MlA TN Prathapan, who also had lodged a complaint against Vellappally, said he was anxious about the future course of the case in the wake of the High Court’s observations.
The Ernakulam (Rural) Police had on November 30 booked Vellappally Natesan under Section 153 (a) of the IPC over the alleged hate speech he had made during a reception given in Aluva near Kochi to the 13-day all-Kerala march, Samathwa Munnetta Yatra, he was leading.
Referring to the death of Noushad, a Muslim youth, in Kozhikode while trying to save two migrant workers from a drainage manhole, Vellappally had alleged in his speech in Aluva on November 29 that only persons belonging to particular religions were getting compensation and relief assistance in connection with accidents and tragedies.
After examining the recordings of Vellappally’s Aluva speech, the only piece of evidence the police have got so far, Justice Bhavadasan had asked the Government what was wrong with the speech. He also observed that prima facie Vellappally’s statement did not seem to contain anything that could create enmity among different religions.
The judge had also observed that Vellappally’s statement was just a criticism of the policy of discrimination the State Government had allegedly been following and not something aimed at creating enmity among religions, an argument the Ezhava leader himself had put forward in his bail application.
BJP leaders termed Sudheeran’s criticisms against the court as something prompted by his personal grudge against Vellappally. “It was AK Antony who had once said that certain communities were gaining undue advantages through organizational power. Had Vellappally said anything more than thatIJ” senior BJP leader PS Sreedharan Pillai asked.
Vellappally had said, “The Government gave Rs 10 lakh to Noushad’s family and job to a family member. If you want compensation for death in an accident, you should be a Muslim.” Such assistance would not come from the Government when Hindus lost lives in accidents, he had said.