The Hindu : New Delhi News : State’s appeal against discharge of Kurian rejected

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Saturday, Nov 17, 2007
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New Delhi

State’s appeal against discharge of Kurian rejected

J. Venkatesan

Apex court questions the role of State in a private complaint

Says probe had found that Kurian was not involved in the case
Counsel says at three stages respondent was absolved of charges

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed at the admission stage an appeal filed by the Kerala government challenging an order passed by the Kerala High Court giving a clean chit to Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament and former Union Minister P.J. Kurian and discharging him in the 1996 Suryanelli sex scandal case.

A Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice R.V. Raveendran questioned the role of the State government in a private complaint. The Chief Justice asked senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan appearing for Kerala “on what basis the State has come against the discharge. It is a private complaint and what is your (State’s) role. This is something strange. If you are aggrieved, you have the remedy of approaching the Magistrate’s court seeking re-investigation of the case.”

The Chief Justice pointed out that the investigation done by senior police officers of the State had stated that he (Mr. Kurian) was not involved. He observed: “They are your own officers. You have to accept their reports. We will not entertain this matter any further. If somebody comes with a complaint after three years after the incident, what will be the evidence left?”

Mr. Dhavan said though three investigations were done in the case, the victim was not given the opportunity to identify the accused by identification parade. He said that after the victim identified the photograph of Mr. Kurian in newspapers, the complaint was lodged by her father. Senior counsel Arun Jaitley appearing for Mr. Kurian strongly opposed the SLP saying that at three stages, the respondent had been absolved of the charges.

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