[BREAKING] Supreme Court rejects plea by Kerala govt to withdraw cases against Left MLAs for 2015 Assembly vandalism

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a plea filed by the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala seeking permission to withdraw cases against its leaders for vandalism in the Kerala Assembly in 2015, when it was in opposition..The Court ruled that the act of the accused MLAs crossed constitutional limits and will, therefore, not be covered under the immunity granted to law makers by the Constitution from criminal prosecution for acts done on the floor of the house."Committing destruction of property in the assembly cannot be equated to freedom of speech in the house. Allowing withdrawal of cases under these circumstances would amount to interference with normal course of justice for illegitimate reasons," the Court held. .It ruled that the immunity conferred on MPs/ MLAs is to help them discharge their functions without fear or favour but it is not a mark of status which makes them stand on a higher footing as compared to other citizens."Privileges and immunity is not a gate to claim exemption from criminal law and that would be a betrayal to the citizens. Immunity of members from criminal law is for the purpose of enabling them to perform functions without hindrance, fear or favour. Members are required to stay true to their oath and immunity is to help them discharge their functions freely. Privileges and immunity is not a mark of status which makes them stand on an unequal footing," the Court said. .The Court, therefore, upheld that Kerala High Court judgment stating that the High Court has correctly held that admissibility of evidence etc will be looked into by the trial court. "We hold there is no merit in the appeals by the Kerala government," the Court concluded.The judgment was delivered by a Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah on a petition against a March 12, 2021 order of the Kerala High Court which had dismissed the State's petition against an order of rejection by the Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court at Thiruvananthapuram, seeking permission to withdraw prosecution against accused including sitting ministers..The State government said in its petition that the case was registered without the sanction of the speaker of the house for an incident which occurred while the assembly was in session. The plea contended that the High Court failed to appreciate that the alleged incident had occurred while the assembly was in session and no crime could have been registered against the MLAs without previous sanction of the Speaker of the House for an incident that happened on the floor of the House."The FIR registered by the Secretary Legislative Assembly without the consent of the Speaker is wrong...the act of the accused persons being in relation to their function to protest as members of the legislative assembly the MLA’s who are accused in this FIR had entitled to get protection under the Constitution," the petition said..In this regard, the State also highlighted Articles 105(3) and 194(3) of the Constitution of India which confers certain privileges and immunities on the members of the parliament and State legislature."Therefore it not proper to the Secretary of Legislative Assembly to file cases against MLAs with regard to an incident that happened on the floor of the House during the protest made by the opposition members," the plea emphasised.The appeal further stated that the question involved is with regard to the interpretation of Section 321 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which gives powers to the prosecutor to file an application for withdrawal of a case."This Hon’ble Court settled the proposition of law on this aspect in a number of decisions. What can be look into by the court whether the public prosecutor had filed the application for withdrawal in good faith after independently analysing the whole situation and whether the withdrawal of the cases will help the ends of justice," the appeal said..However, the Court during the hearing of the case, had stated that the behaviour by public servants which involved throwing microphone and causing damage to public property, should be met with legal action.Prima facie we have to take a strict view of this kind of behavior. This is not acceptable behavior. Look at the behaviour of MLA who throws mic on the floor of the house. He must face trial," said Justice Chandrachud.The Court had also remarked this case was "not about theft but damage to public property and that the government is the custodian of this property."Justice Chandrachud had further observed,"Let us take example of court. Even in court, lawyers sometime lose their cool and oppose each other. But will that justify destroying court property?".The Kerala High Court in its order had noted that question was whether the acts allegedly committed by the accused, which, if proven, would be offences punishable under the Indian Penal Code, are to be reckoned as part of the proceedings of the House, for the purpose of their protection."The answer can only be in the negative, since privileges and immunities are provided to ensure smooth functioning of the House by guaranteeing absolute freedom to the members to speak and participate in its deliberations. Here the allegation is of the functioning of the Assembly Session having been disrupted by the members by trespassing into the Speakers Dias and committing mischief. The aforementioned acts, if proven to be true, can, by no stretch of imagination, be deemed to be acts done in furtherance of the free functioning of the house," the High Court had said..Senior Counsel Ranjit Kumar appeared on behalf of State of Kerala while Senior Counsel Jaideep Gupta represented the accused law makers. Senior Counsel Mahesh Jethmalani, V Chitambaresh along with advocate Ravi Sharma appeared for respondents who were impleaded as parties before the High Court. .[Read Judgment]