Ministers get bail in 2015 Kerala assembly ruckus case

Ministers Jayarajan and KT Jaleel appeared before the Chief Judicial Magistrate after the high court refused to stay a lower court's summons to the duo. Later, both the ministers were granted bail after filing a bond of Rs. 35,000 each.

Thiruvananthapuram:Ministers EP Jayarajan and KT Jaleel appeared before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) on Wednesday in a case related to the ruckus in the legislative assembly house in 2015.

Later, both the ministers were granted bail after filing a bond of Rs. 35,000 each.

The case was considered by the Thiruvananthapuram Chief Judicial Magistrate R Jayakrishnan. Government Counsel had earlier sought to stay the summons issued to the State Ministers. However, the high court had refused to stay the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court’s summons to the Ministers in the criminal case.

As all the six accused in the case, including the two Ministers, were present for hearing at the court. Though the magistrate decided to read out the charge sheet, it was deferred after the accused informed the court that they were to file release bail petitions. The case would be considered again on November 12 by the CJM Court.

On March 13, 2015, while the then Finance Minister and UDF leader K M Mani was presenting the State Budget, the then opposition MLAs E P Jayarajan, K T Jaleel and MLAs K Ajith, K Kunju Mohammed, C K Sadashivan and V Shivankutty protested and created a ruckus in the house.

The State Crime Branch booked all the six LDF MLAs, for the bedlam in the State Assembly and for the damages. An estimated damage of Rs 2 lakh happened in the house following the ruckus. Speaker’s chair, emergency lamps, microphone units, digital clocks, computer monitor and headphones were damaged in the brawl.

As the Ministers K T Jaleel and E P Jayarajan were late to reach the Court while the case was considered, the Court proceeding was stopped for an hour.