Supreme Court releases jailed Kerala CPI-M leader
November 15th, 2011 - 10:34 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, Nov 15 (IANS) The Supreme Court Tuesday directed the release on bail of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader M.V. Jayarajan who was jailed for six months by the Kerala High Court for using derogatory words against its judges.
An apex court bench of Justice R.M. Lodha and Justice H.L. Gokhale assailed the high court for not affording Jayarajan an opportunity to appeal against his conviction and sentencing.
“You cannot deny a person the right to a judicial process,” the bench said, adding that “the judgment should have been suspended as a matter of course”.
The court said that the “appellant is amenable to the judicial process if we uphold the verdict but he can’t be denied the right to appeal”.
Counsel V. Giri appearing for the high court said that once supporters of Jayarajan blocked access to the court complex in order to prevent judges from entering the premises.
Justice Lodha described as “shocking and serious” the conduct of both the court as well as Jayarajan’s supporters.
“The high court is a constitutional court and preventing judges from entering the court premises is something extra-ordinary… (it is) not acceptable to us,” the apex court said.
The court also took note of the use of words like “reptile” and “worm” for Jayarajan in the high court’s judgment.
“The judgment is a reflection of our thought process and the language of the judgment must be more temperate,” the court said expressing its displeasure over the conduct of the high court.
The judges said: “Justice can’t be taken to streets. It is just not acceptable. Judgment may be right or wrong. No body is infallible. This is not good for justice. These things should stop.”
“We are really perturbed… We are more concerned about it. Mind-set has to change on both the sides,” the court said.
After pulling up both the appellant Jayarajan and the high court, the court directed the release of Jayarajan on a personal bond of Rs.10,000 to the satisfaction of the registrar general of the high court.
The court directed Jayarajan to deposit the fine imposed on him by the high court within a week, if he had not deposited it already.
The court also directed that the Kerala government should be made a party in the case and fixed the next hearing of the case in July 2012.
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Tags: apex, apex court, communist party of india, communist party of india marxist, constitutional court, court bench, court premises, CPI, derogatory words, displeasure, giri, gokhale, judgment, kerala high court, lodha, matter of course, New Delhi, personal bond, reptile, thought process