Govt's decision to grant remission in TP murder case rocks Kerala assembly

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government’s decision to move for commutation of the four accused in the TP murder case rocked the legislative assembly on Thursday. Members of the ruling and opposition groups clashed over the issue while placards were raised in front of the speaker's podium amidst raucous chants of slogans.

Opposition Leader V.D. Satheesan raised the issue of the speaker not allowing permission for the adjournment motion. MLA KK Rema's statement was taken from three police stations starting at 7;30 pm on Sunday for the report regarding the remission of the four involved in the murder of T P Chandrasekharan.

The law passed by the assembly not to grant commutation to culprits involved in political murders was amended by the government for the TP murder case. The rule that parole and leave should be less than one-third of the total sentence was not followed. The opposition leader raised concern after highlighting the previous history of the TP murder case accused who all went out for parole and got engaged in gold smuggling and gun trafficking cases.

On behalf of the Chief Minister, Minister M. B. Rajesh replied that no accused involved in the TP case would be eligible for relaxation without serving 20 years of punishment, and promised that the government would not mete out special treatment to anyone. He also said that the Chief Secretary of Home Affairs had instructed the Jail Chief to provide a revised list excluding the TP case accused.

As there exists a High Court order not to consider commutation without serving 20 years, the government decided to suspend three officers of Kannur Central Jail who sought a police report for the TP case accused. Joint Superintendent K.S. Sreejith, Assistant Superintendent Grade-I B.G. Arun, and Assistant Prison Officer O.V. Raghunath are the ones suspended by the chief minister.