CPM leader Jayarajan jailed for judge-bashing
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The CPI(M)’s Kannur strongman and former MLA, Mr M.V. Jayarajan, was locked up at the Poojappura Central Prison in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday evening after the Kerala High Court awarded him six months simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000 for his derogatory comments against the judiciary.
The punishment is the maximum sentence that can be given under the Contempt of Courts Act 1971. Mr Jayarajan made the comments ridiculing the judges in July 2010 after the court banned roadside meetings.
The CPI(M) leader, who looked unruffled, was immediately driven by a police team to Thiruvananthapuram after the HC dismissed his plea for suspension of the sentence to file an appeal before the Supreme Court. In Alappuzha, Kayamkulam and several other places, CPI(M) activists blocked the roads to express solidarity with him.
Earlier, a division bench comprising Justice V. Ramkumar and Justice P.Q. Barkath Ali found him guilty of committing “criminal contempt by making offensive, vicious and malicious onslaught on the judiciary.”
The court did not accept his counsel, Mr M. Saseendran’s interpretation that the word ‘Shumbhan’ (which Mr Jayajaran used against the judges) was innocuous in Sanskrit and pointed out that the word should be seen in the context in which it was uttered.
“Any act creating a wrong impression in the mind of the people regarding the fairness of the judicial functionary will interfere with the course of justice,” the bench held, while sentencing the CPI(M) leader under section 12 of the Act. “Jayarajan does not deserve any leniency as he persisted with his derogatory remarks.”
While dismissing the appeal filed by his counsel for suspension of sentence, the court further observed, “Jayarajan called the two judges ‘fools.’ He had been reiterating his stand with impunity during his frequent media escapades.”
firebrand inmate
* M.V. Jayarajan
* Convict No 6699
*May have to wear uniform
*Put up in a single room in the hospital block, where former minister Balakrishna Pillai stayed, for high security. Retired IG Lakshmana will be his neighbour
* Need not work because it is simple imprisonment
* A class facility will depend on Govt
decision
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