RINKU Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners herein have been arrayed as the accused Nos. 6 to 11 and 16 to 21 in Crime No. 1539/2019 of Cantonment Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram which has been registered for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 188, 283, 332, 353 and 307 r/w Section 149 IPC, Sec.3(2)(e) of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 and Sec.39 r/w 121 of KP Act, 2011 on the basis of the FIS conveyed by the police officer concerned. The prosecution case in short is that on 22.07.2019 at about 12.00 noon under the leadership of accused Nos.1 to 5 and 6 to 11 and identifiable 500 activists of the Kerala Students Union (KSU) and Indian Youth Congress etc. had organized a march to the Government Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram to show the solidarity with the agitation against the allegation of malpractices in conducting certain examinations by Kerala Public Service Commission and also demanding investigation into those aspects by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Further, the prosecution would alleged that all the accused persons had formed themselves into unlawful assembly in front of the Government Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram along with accused Nos. 12 to 15, who were conducting hunger strike there, violating the orders of the police officials to disperse from the place of occurrence and they had threatened the police officials, pelted stones, soda bottles and sticks and due to the pelting of soda bottles, the Assistant Commissioner of Police sustained serious injury on his neck. The accused persons committed mischief to public property by destroying glasses of three police jeeps causing wrongful loss to the tune of Rs.25,000/- to the Government.

(2.) It has been further pointed out that the petitioners 1 to 6 were arrested 22.07.2019 and accused Nos. 7 to 12 were arrested on 24.07.2019 and all the above said petitioners have been under judicial custody since then. The petitioners' application for bail has been rejected by Jurisdictional Magistrate Court concerned (JFMC-III, Thiruvananthapuram) as per Annexure-I dated 27.07.2019 at the time of remand.

(3.) Sri.T.Asaf Ali, learned counsel for the petitioners would urge that the petitioners are absolutely innocent and have been falsely implicated and that the petitioners had only conducted peaceful march in the Secretariat to protest against the alleged malpractices in the conduct of certain examinations by the Kerala Public Service Commission and that their agitation was extremely in a peaceful manner and had not committed any mischief to the public property and the petitioners have been wrongly identified or they have been deliberately implicated by the police only on account of the political animosity as they are the activists of student wing and youth organisation of the leading opposition party in the State. Further that the police had used water shells and fired grenades towards the march. It appears that some untoward incidents had happened there and due to the lathy charge, so many people were also sustained injuries. Further, that the allegation of the petitioners have pelted soda bottles towards the police officers and that they had destroyed the glasses of the police jeeps etc. are absolutely false and they had not committed any act of violence as against any of the police officers concerned.