Daily News Dose: Cong MLA Eldhose Kunnappilly gets anticipatory bail in woman assault case | Oct 20, 2022

Hello, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Vishnu, and these are the major news stories of the day:

1. Congress MLA Eldhose Kunnappilly gets anticipatory bail in woman assault case

2. Kerala High Court quashes Civic Chandran's anticipatory bail plea in sexual assault case

3. Attappady Madhu murder case trial: 19th witness tells court he turned hostile fearing the accused

4. CPM veteran Comrade VS Achuthanandan turns 99

5. Kerala to witness widespread rain till Oct 22

Let's get into the details....

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1. The Additional Sessions Court on Thursday granted anticipatory bail to Perumbavoor MLA Eldhose Kunnappilly in the woman assault case. The court directed him to appear before the investigating officer on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Kunnappilly informed the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee leadership, which had sought an explanation from the MLA, that he was innocent and the case was fabricated.

In his letter to KPCC, Kunnappilly reiterated that he did not physically harm the woman and that the only aim behind the false complaint was to finish him politically.

The assessment of the party leadership is that there's been a failure on the part of Eldhose. According to the leadership, by going incommunicado after being accused of rape, Kunnappilly 'weakened' the party's image in the state.

KPCC president K Sudhakaran has ordered an investigation into the issue. A call on his continuance would be taken after holding consultations with senior leaders, Sudhakaran said.

It was on September 28 that the woman, a teacher residing in Pettah, filed an assault complaint against Kunnappilly. However, the registration of the case was delayed as the MLA and even the police, as the woman claims, tried to settle the case.

She alleges that Kunnappilly had at one point even offered her Rs 30 lakh to withdraw the complaint.

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2. The Kerala High Court on Thursday quashed the anticipatory bail granted to writer and social activist Civic Chandran by the Kozhikode Sessions Court.

The HC was considering a plea filed by the complainant and the state government challenging the Sessions Court order.

The High Court had earlier expunged the remarks by the Kozhikode Sessions Court that the attire of the survivor at the time of the alleged assault was ‘sexually provocative.’

According to the complaint, Chandran behaved indecently and grabbed the survivor while she was relaxing on the beach after a literary camp on February 8, 2020.

The Koyilandy police filed a case against Chandran on July 29, 2022 based on the complaint. However, the Sessions Court granted him anticipatory bail. In its judgment, the Sessions Court had made the controversial observations on the dress of the survivor after examining some photos from social media produced by Chandran’s lawyers.

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3. In a morale booster to the prosecution in the Attappady Madhu lynching case, a witness who had earlier turned hostile, reiterated his original statement during trial on Thursday.

Kakki, the 19th witness in the case, told the Special Court for SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act at Mannarkkad that he turned hostile earlier fearing revenge from the accused. He apologised to the trial court and said he stood with his original statement given to the police in favour of the prosecution.

Kakki was a temporary watcher with the forest department and he was sacked from the job after he turned hostile. His original statement to the police was that he had seen a group of people taking Madhu out of the forest from where he was captured allegedly by the accused on charges of theft. However, during the trial, he told the court that he was not sure if it was Madhu.

Kakki's repentance has come as a huge morale booster for the prosecution as the trial has witnessed many witnesses turning hostile. So far, 27 prosecution witnesses have turned hostile leaving questions over the fate of the case.

Madhu, a tribal youth from Chindakki hamlet near Mukkali in Attappady, was captured from a cave in the forest and beaten up by a group of men on charges of alleged theft on February 22, 2018. They handed him over to the police, but Madhu died on the way to the hospital. The cause of the death was internal injuries he suffered from the beating.

All the 16 accused, however, secured conditional bails from the High Court on May 30, 2018. The trial court in August cancelled the bail of 12 accused to prevent them from influencing the witnesses. The Kerala High Court upheld the decision to cancel the bail of 11 of the accused while setting aside the order on one of the accused.

On Thursday, however, the court granted bail to the 11 accused who were remanded.

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4. Former chief minister and CPM stalwart V S Achuthanandan turned 99 on Thursday.

Fondly called 'Comrade VS' by his followers and fans, Achuthanandan has been keeping away from public and media glare for quite some time due to age-related difficulties.

According to party sources, the veteran celebrated the day along with members of his family and visitors were not allowed to extend wishes considering his health condition.

Cutting across party and political lines, people from various walks of life greeted the Marxist leader, who is the founder-leader of CPM after the split in the undivided CPI in 1964.

Born on October 20, 1923, in a working-class family in the Alappuzha district, Velikkakath Sankaran Achuthanandan became part of the trade union after ending his formal education at the primary level. Joining the Communist movement, his life is linked with its history in the state including the Punnapra-Vayalar uprising, underground activities of the party after it was banned in 1949 following Calcutta thesis and the formation of the CPM following the split in the CPI in 1964.

Achuthanandan, who became a CPM politburo member in 1996, headed the CPM-led LDF government from 2006 to 2011, defeating efforts by his rivals in the party to deny him a chance. He is staying at his son's residence after stepping down as Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission last year.

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5. The India Meteorological Department as predicted widespread heavy rain across the state for the next two days.

The Met Department issued a yellow alert in 8 districts, including Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Wayanad, on Thursday.

A low-pressure belt has formed over the Bay of Bengal and it is likely to develop into a cyclonic storm. A similar low-pressure belt has also taken shape over the north Andaman sea, said the weather office. Hence, there are chances of heavy rains and lightning at isolated places till October 22.

The impact of the cyclone will depend on its trajectory. It is expected that it would travel in the west-northwestern direction and reach the central Bay of Bengal sea by October 22, where it would turn into a depression. It may evolve as a cyclonic storm in the next 48 hours, the national weather agency stated.

The warning also said a low-pressure belt has also formed near the Maharashtra coast in the Arabian Sea.

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That brings us to the end of this episode. Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.