Sabarimala hartal violence: Kerala HC stays further proceedings in case against BJP leader K Surendran

Kochi: High court has stayed further proceedings against BJP leader K Surendran for four months in a case relating to an alleged hartal-related attack at Mannar in Alappuzha district during a statewide hartal in 2019, held in protest against the entry of young women into Sabarimala.Justice C S Dias passed the interim order while considering a petition by Surendran seeking to quash the case pending against him before the judicial first-class magistrate court, Chengannur and adjourned the petition to June 15. According to prosecution, around 10am on Jan 3, 2019, Sebastian of Chennithala, a DYFI activist, and his friends were attacked by a group of protesters while travelling in a car along the Mannar-Mavelikkara Road in Alappuzha. It was alleged that the accused, who were armed, manhandled the occupants of the vehicle on account of political enmity.The police registered a case against the alleged assailants and also arrayed K Surendran, M T Ramesh, A N Radhakrishnan, V Muraleedharan and other senior BJP leaders as accused on charges of abetment. The final report stated that the senior leaders were included as accused pursuant to an interim high court order and a subsequent administrative order issued by the Kochi range inspector general of police.Surendran contended that no independent investigation was conducted to ascertain his involvement and that no material evidence or witness statement implicates him in the alleged incident. He argued that even if the allegations in the final report are accepted in toto, no prima facie offence is made out against him. He further asserted that a general call for a hartal, in the absence of any incitement to violence, amounts to political expression and cannot, by itself, attract criminal liability.