KURIAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The revision petitioner/accused in S.C. No. 413/2006 in the file of the Additional Sessions Judge, Thodupuzha has sought for setting aside the order of the court below dismissing his application filed under Section 227 Cr.P.C. seeking discharge and has sought for a total discharge with respect to the proceedings that originated from a private complaint. The petitioner right now is a Member of Parliament elected to the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and earlier he had represented five times the Mavelikkara Constituency and once the Idukki Constituency in the House of People (Lok Sabha). He was also Minister of State for Industries in the Union Council of Ministers and also Minister of State for Non-Conventional Energy, in the Union Government in 1996. It is stated that attempts were made entirely due to political animosity to implicate him in a much publicised serial rape case (hereinafter to be referred as Suryanelli case) at the time when he was Minister of State for Industries in the Central Government. While the Suryanelli case was in full media glare, on 30-3-1996, a news item appeared prominently in the front page of the vernacular daily Deshabhimani which is the official organ of Communist Party of India(Marxist) with the headline - "In rape case, Minister Kurian also involved". The petitioner immediately addressed a letter to Shri V. Satharkunju, Director General of Police, State of Kerala to conduct an immediate enquiry into the allegations and also wrote to Professor Sugathakumari, Chairperson of Kerala State Commission for Women requesting her to conduct a detailed probe. On 3rd April 1996, he caused a lawyer notice to be sent to the alleged rape victim, her father, Chief Editor, Printer and Publisher of Deshabhimani daily, seeking an apology from them for the defamatory news item and intimating them of his intention to file a suit for damages, if apology is not tendered. The petitioner came to know that on 28-3-1996 a complaint has been made to the Chief Minister of Kerala alleging that the petitioner commited rape on her and that she had identified him. The complainant had alleged that so many persons had ravished her during the period between 15-2-1996 and 22-2-1996 at the Kumili Panchayat Rest House and the petitioner is one among them. On the orders of the Chief Minister, the Special Investigation Team headed by K.Ittoop, Superintendent of Police, CBCID, Thiruvananthapuram investigated the allegation with respect to the petitioner and submitted a report to Mr. Rajeevan, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Crime Investigation that the petitioner is not involved in the affair at all and that it was humanly impossible for him to reach Kumili at the time mentioned in the compliant on 19-2-1996 as the petitioner was at that time in Thiruvalla in the house of one Sri P.K.Idiculla, Punnattussery House, Kattukara Road, Tiruvalla till 8 p.m. Sri Idiculla had affirmed the above fact. 27 telephone calls were made from telephone No. 630324 of Sri Idiculla during the particular day and out of which 23 calls were made by the petitioner in his capacity as Minister between 15.22 hours and 216.49 hours. Most of the calls were made to important persons in Delhi. Sri K.S.Rajan, District Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Alappuzha District and Sri Charli Abraham, President of Service Co-operative Bank and Sri Kuruvilla Jacob, L.D.F. leader had met the petitioner at the house of Sri Idiculla on the particular day at 7 p.m. The above Rajan had issued a press statement as to the above fact which has been published in Malayala Manorama daily dated 8-4-1996. From the house of Sri Idiculla, the petitioner had proceeded to N.S.S. Headquarters at Perunna in the State car to meet the N.S.S.Assistant Secretary Sri Sukumaran Nair. The petitioner was with Mr. Sukumaran Nair till 8.30 p.m. From Perunna, the petitioner had gone back to his residence at Thiruvalla from where at 10.25 p.m. he had talked to the Superintendent of Police, Pathanamthitta in telephone No. 0473-32637 for 4 minutes and 56 seconds. This is confirmed by Sri Harris Xavier, Superintendent of Police, Pathanamthitta. It is evident from the above fact that the petitioner could not have been present at all at 7.30 p.m. on 19-2-1996 at Kumili Panchayat Rest House. It is also pointed out that he was representing Idukki Constituency in the Lok Sabha and that he was quite familiar in Kumili and that he could not have visited Kumili Rest House unnoticed by the local people.

(2.) It is further stated that on 9-4-1996, the petitioner filed nomination for contesting to the Lok Sabha from Mavelikkara Constituency. On 12-4-1996, the complainant's father filed O.P. No. 6945/1996 before this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for entrusting the investigation in Crime No. 6/1996 of Munnar Police station, i.e. the Suryanelli case to the C.B.I. Crime No. 6/1996 was registered on the complaint filed by the father of the girl on 16-1-1996 at 4.45 p.m. alleging that his daughter had eloped with one Raju, a checker in a private bus and that girl has not reached home. F.I.R. was registered on 17-1-1996 for man missing. This Court in O.P. No. 6945/1996 proceedings directed the Deputy Inspector General of Police, CBCID to file a comprehensive report relating to the steps taken in the investigation of Crime No. 6/1996 within two weeks in a sealed cover so that the allegations may not influence the outcome of elections. On 24-4-1996, Sri V.R. Rajeevan, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Crime investigation submitted a report in a sealed cover after getting a thorough investigation conducted. A copy of the report was also ordered to be given to the father of the girl on application. On 16-5-1996, the petitioner was declared elected to the Lok Sabha by a huge majority. Thereafter, the writ petition was not pressed and hence dismissed on 24-6-2005. It is pointed out that along with the Parliamentary elections, elections to the State Assembly was also held.In June 1996, the L.D.F. Government under Sri E.K.Nayanar as Chief Minister assumed office.Shri.Nayanar was also the Chief Editor of Deshabhimani daily against whom the petitioner had sent the lawyer notice for defamation. Chief Minister, Sri Nayanar appointed Mr. Siby Mathew, D.I.G. of Police as the investigating officer in the Suryanelli case with a specific direction to find out the involvement, if any, of the petitioner. On 4-7-1996, Sri Siby Mathew took over investigation. On 8-8-1996 when the girl was further questioned under Section 161 Cr.P.C. she could not recognize the photo of the petitioner as the person who sexually assaulted her.

(3.) It is further pleaded that as the Left Democratic Front Government then in office was hostile to the petitioner and as there was attempt to defame him, he filed O.S. No. l4/1997 in the Sub Court, Thiruvalla seeking damages for defamation against Sri E.K.Nayanar, the then Chief Minister and Chief Editor of Deshabhimani Daily and Sri P.Karunakaran, Printer and Publisher and also against the complainant and her father. In the final report filed in Crime No. 6/1996 by the Special Investigation Team of CBCID headed by Sri Siby Mathew, 42 persons were arraigned as the accused. The petitioner was not implicated in the final report. On 9-11-1997, a third investigation was conducted by Sri Somasundaram, the Superintendent of Police, Idukki as to the involvement of the petitioner and he has also submitted a report to the Government that there was nothing to establish the involvement of the petitioner in the case. In the meantime, one person had approached the petitioner offering to clear up the entire issue if the petitioner paid him a substantial amount of money. The petitioner reported the matter to the Superintendent of Police, Pathanamthitta and the above person was detected and it was found that he was one Raghu, suspected to be a D.Y.F.I. (the youth wing of the C.P.M.)sympathizer. He disclosed to the police that he made the offer on the clear instructions of a prominent leader of the Communist Party of India(Marxist). The incident has been reported in various newspapers.