Kerala - Kochi   

Bail for Marad accused opposed

Kochi: The State government on Monday strongly opposed the bail petitions filed by 27 accused in jail in connection with the Marad massacre case.

The government, however, said it had no objection to bail being granted to Abbas, one of the accused who has cancer.

The submission on behalf of the government was made by Director-General of Prosecution (DGP) P.G. Thampi when the bail petitions came up before Justice R. Basant.

While opposing the bail pleas, Mr. Thampi said there was ample evidence to indicate that the accused had hatched a conspiracy with others.

If they were released on bail, communal harmony would be in peril. Besides, the accused would go into hiding.

In a statement, Mr. Thampi said the evidence against the petitioners clearly established the role played by each accused. Their intention was to get bail to evade the final verdict.

Justice R. Basant expressed concern over the manner in which investigation was conducted into two spirit seizure cases.

The judge criticised the investigation when the bail petition filed by the accused in the two cases came up for hearing.

The bail petition was filed by Sandeep who was arrested in connection with the seizure of large quantities of spirit from Thrissur. The other petition seeking anticipatory bail was filed by Surendran.

He feared that he would be arrested as the lorry seized by the police along with the spirit was owned by him. Though he had filed a complaint before a magistrate that his vehicle was missing, the police did not investigate the case properly.

A Bench comprising Justice P.R. Raman and Justice V.K. Mohanan asked a petitioner who complained about lack of facilities for women pilgrims at Sabarimala to move the court in the next festival season as the present Mandalam-Makaravillaku festival was over.

In her petition, Lekha Suresh of Vypeen said no facilities had been provided by the Travancore Devaswom Board for women at Pampa and Triveni to take holy dips.

The board had not provided any resting place for women.

The condition of urinals at the Sannidhanam was deplorable, she said.

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