Protest and conferences disrupting traffic; High Court makes extraordinary move, directs 17 individuals including political leaders to appear in person

KOCHI: The High Court gave a strong warning to politicians who obstruct the freedom of movement of the public by directing seventeen individuals, including leaders from various political parties, to appear in court in person in connection with four events that disrupted traffic. The court issued contempt of court notices to 19 individuals, including senior police officers. Of these, 17 are required to appear in court on February 10 at 2 PM. The court made it clear that gatherings that obstruct traffic and pedestrian movement cannot be taken lightly.

Among those required to appear in court are CPM state secretary MV Govindan and CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam. The order was issued by a division bench comprising Justice Anil K Narendran and Justice S Muraleekrishna. While contempt notices were also served to Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan and State Police Chief Sheikh Darvesh Sahib, they were exempted from appearing in person. However, the court rejected the government's plea to exempt police officials.

The action comes in response to a contempt of court petition filed by Maradu native N Prakash related to the following events: the CPM conference in Vanchiyoor, a dharna organized by the CPI-backed Joint Council in front of the Secretariat, the 'Jwala Vanitha Junction' program in Balaramapuram, and the dharna organized by the Congress in front of Kochi Corporation. After hearing preliminary arguments, including those of the Additional Advocate General, the court observed that prima facie contempt of court will stand. The court also examined video evidence. The court noted that the program in Vanchiyoor was not even a protest and that the conference was held near the court complex and the police station.

Individals who are required to appear in person

• CPM: MV Govindan, M Vijayakumar, MLAs Kadakampally Surendran, V Joy and VK Prasanth
• CPI: Binoy Viswam, Pannian Raveendran, Jayachandran Kallingal
• Congress: DCC President Muhammad Shiyas, TJ Vinod MLA, former minister Dominic Presentation
• Police officials: Former Thiruvananthapuram Commissioner IG G Sparjan Kumar, Kochi Commissioner Putta Vimaladitya, Thiruvananthapuram Rural SP Kiran Narayanan, CIs D Girilal, Aneesh Joy and SHO Prajeesh Sasi.