Former Kerala minister Jose Thettayil, presently an lDF MlA of the Janata Dal (S), on Wednesday appeared in front of the media 17 days after he disappeared following registration of a case against him on the charge of sexually abusing a 30-year-old woman. He came out of ‘hiding’ following an order passed the by the High Court the other day in his favour.
After having a brief consultation with his counsel MK Damodaran in Kochi on Wednesday evening, Thettayil claimed that the allegations leveled against him were baseless and that these were part of a conspiracy. He alleged that a Minister in the Congress-led UDF Government, hailing from Ernakulam, was behind the moves against him.
The Kerala High Court had on Tuesday imposed a ten-day stay on the proceedings against Thettayil on the basis of the FIR registered against him. The court had observed that the charge of rape leveled against him in the FIR was not maintainable prima facie as the sexual relationship between him and the woman was based on mutual consent.
Responding to queries from newsmen, Thettayil said he had not done anything wrong. “Why should I resignIJ” he asked when newsmen referred to the demand for his resignation on moral grounds. He said he had given a detailed explanation to his party and indicated that neither the Janata Dal (S) nor the lDF had asked him to resign as MlA.
The case was registered against Thettayil, now 63, on the basis of a complaint lodged by a 30-year-old woman from Manjapra village in his Angamaly constituency on June 23 that he and his son Adarsh (26) had been sexually abusing her for the past two years. She had also presented some webcam-grabbed video recordings as evidence along with the complaint.
According to the woman, Thettayil had sexually abused her by assuring her that his son would marry her while Adarsh exploited her feigning love. However, the High Court said that it was impossible to consider the woman, who had shared beds with a man and his son willingly and recorded the bedroom scenes, as innocent.
Thettayil told newsmen on Wednesday that he had known the woman since 2006 and that she was his voter. He said he could not give any more explanations as the case was under the consideration of the court. Since June 23, Thettayil had not been seen in public and had been absent from the Assembly.