Kerala High Court Calls For Case Diary In Plea Against Minister Saji Cherian, Booked For Allegedly Making Insulting Remarks Against Constitution
The Kerala High Court yesterday directed to produce the case diary regarding the investigation conducted into the allegations that Minister for Fisheries, Culture, and Youth Affairs Saji Cherian made insulting remarks against the Indian Constitution.
The Court passed the above order in a plea moved by a lawyer seeking a re-investigation by the CBI. The plea alleges that the Minister committed an offence punishable under Section 2 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act of 1971. It is alleged that police filed a refer report to close the investigation without even conducting a proper and fair investigation.
Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas ordered thus: “In the meantime, the case Diary shall be produced for perusal of the Court by the next posting date.”
The petitioner alleges that on July 03, 2022, the Minister made highly disparaging and insulting speech against the Indian Constitution while speaking at a public function organized by the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
The petitioner alleges that the Minister ridiculed the Constitution by stating that it condones labour exploitation and does not help the labourers or their protests. The plea alleges that the Constitution does not follow values like secularism and democracy and they were only inscribed on its sides for namesake. The plea said,
“.. We all say that we have a beautifully written Constitution in India. But I will say a beautiful Constitution, which can serve to loot the most number of people, was written in the country." He also alleged that the Constitution of India was "compiled by the British" which has been implemented in the country for the last 75 years. He further said that values like "secularism" and "democracy" the "Kuntham and Kodaochakram [spear and wheel] were just inscribed on its [Constitution] sides. He added that he won't agree with anyone who preaches the other way in the country. He would further say that ours is a country which does not accept workers' protests, and he went on to say that "Indian Constitution is one which condones the labour exploitation the most' and claimed this was the reason certain "millionaires" in the corporate sector have grown in the country.”
The plea stated that the petitioner filed a complaint against the Minister with the police on July 05, 2022. It was stated that a complaint was also filed before the Magistrate Court. Subsequently, an FIR was lodged on July 07 at Keezhvaipur police station.
The Plea alleges that the investigating officer did not conduct a proper and fair investigation against the Minister. It is alleged that a refer report is filed, instead of a charge sheet and that a final report was also filed stating that charges were being dropped due to paucity of evidence.
It is alleged that the Minister has committed a serious offence affecting the national honour and pride of the country. The petitioner states that the CBI must re-investigate the matter since the police were not conducting the investigation properly.
When the matter was taken up, Director General of Prosecution T A Shaji objected to the maintainability of the writ petition seeking CBI investigation when there exists an alternative remedy in the form of a revision.
The matter is posted for 23 October for further hearing.
The plea has been moved by Advocate M Baiju Noel (party-in-person).
Case Number: WP (Crl) 1042/2024
Case Title: Adv. M Baiju Noel v State of Kerala