GIREESAN NAIR Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These appeals are directed against the judgment of the High Court of Kerala upholding the conviction of Accused Nos. 1-7, 9- 12, 14, 16 and 18 under Ss. 143, 147, 148 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as 'the IPC'), and Ss. 3(2)(e) of Prevention of Damages to Public Property Act, 1984 (hereinafter referred to as 'the PDPP Act') , read with Sec. 149 of the IPC. A sentence of four years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.10,000,.00 as imposed by the Trial Court (Additional District and Sessions Judge (Fast Track-1), Thiruvananthapuram in Case Nos. 302 of 2001, 1786 of 2001 and 1313 of 2002 dtd. 15/2/2006), was also upheld by the High Court.

(2.) Facts: The facts of the present case can be traced back to the year 2000 when the State of Kerala decided to delink pre- degree courses from colleges and start plus-two courses at the school level. There were protests against the implementation of the said policy. During one of the protests on 12/7/2000, it is alleged that the police officials were harsh, and several protesters, including girl students, were injured. To avenge the police atrocity, it is alleged that Accused Nos. 1-2 and 25-33 hatched a conspiracy to launch a protest the next day to create fear and terror in the city.

(3.) In furtherance of the alleged conspiracy, on 13/7/2000, about 1500 protestors armed with weapons proceeded towards the Government Secretariat. When the group was met with resistance from the police force, they became violent and caused damage to as many as 81 buses belonging to the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (hereinafter referred to as 'the KSRTC'). A few protestors even went inside the garage of KSRTC, and when the KSRTC workers repelled them, the protestors turned even more violent, leading to the death of one Mr. Rajesh, a bus conductor with KSRTC.