The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed two petitions seeking legal action against CPI(M)’s Electricity Minister MM Mani for a controversial speech he had made in April in which he allegedly insulted the woman workers of tea plantations in Munnar with obscene remarks.
The Court rejected the pleas saying that this was not a subject it could legally interfere with though it made it clear that it did not agree with the comments he had made in his controversial speech. The Court also observed that it was the choice of each individual what words one should use and that it was unable to change anybody’s character.
The High Court also rejected the petitioners’ prayer for a direction to the Marxist Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, to take action against Mani in the name of his speech that insulted the modesty of the women belonging to Penpilai Orumai (Women’s Unity), an outfit of woman tea workers in Munnar which had held a legendary stir in 2015 demanding higher wages and bonus.
Observing that the petitioners’ proposal that the Chief Minister should be instructed to formulate a code of conduct for the Ministers in his Cabinet was welcome, the Court said issuing an order on it would set a wrong precedent. It was up to the Chief Minister to decide whether such a code of conduct should be formulated, it said.
Responding to the High Court’s decision on the petitions filed by Joseph Shine, an NRI, and rights activist George Vattukulam, Minister Mani said, “I am very happy about the Court’s order. It has now been established that I am innocent.”
The Kerala Police had earlier rejected the demand for registration of a case against Mani over his attack against woman tea workers.
In a speech at Irupathekkar near his native Kunjithanni village near Munnar on April 20, Mani had said, “Several things had happened during the Penpilai Orumai struggle (of 2015). Drinking and all other dirty things were there. The’'work’ was in the nearly forest. Many things happened then. We know everything.”