High Court dismisses Paloli’s petition

KOCHI: A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday refused to dispense with the personal presence of the Local Administration Minister Paloli Muhammedkutty when it considers the suo motu contempt of court proceedings against him and the editors/printer and publishers of four newspapers on Thursday.

The court rejected his application in this regard. Therefore, he should appear in person before the court on Thursday.

The other accused in the case are Biju Varghese, editor, Mangalam, P A Abdul Hakkim, printer and publisher of Ideal Publications Ltd, Kozhikode, that publishes Madhyamam, Fr Robin Vadakkancheril, editor, Rashtra Deepika, and P Koya, editor, Thejus.

While speaking at the annual convention of the Calicut University Employees Union at Thenjippalam on January 30, the Minister is alleged to have made scurrilous, contumacious, and denigrating comments against the courts in general and the High Court in particular.

The editors, printer and publisher carried the contumacious text of the speech in their respective issues on January 31, and thereby committed criminal contempt of court.