Ex-Kerala top cop to be tried

New Delhi Jan. 27: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the petition by 85-year-old former Kerala DGP P. Vijyan in an alleged “fake encounter” of Naxalite leader Varghese three decades ago and allowed the trial judge to proceed with the case against him and two other cops. However, a bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and H.L. Dattu allowed Vijayan to file a fresh application for discharge before the special CBI judge in Ernakulam. An FIR was registered by the CBI against Vijyan, a highly decorated police officer only on March 3, 1999 while the encounter had taken place in February 1970. Vijayan had fought a long-drawn legal battle for quashing of the FIR right from the sessions court to state high court and the top court. “Thought the trial judge has not assigned detailed reasons for dismissing the application for discharge filed by Vijayan, it is clear from the trial court order that after consideration of the relevant materials charge had been framed for offence under Section 302 (murder) read with Section 34 (common intention to do unlawful act) of the IPC,” the top court said. Since the trial had not progressed, the former DGP could not claim at this stage there was “no sufficient ground” for proceeding against him. “Whether the trial will end in conviction or acquittal is also immaterial,” the top court said. As per the police version, Varghese was killed when he had tried to escape from custody while being taken to Mananthavadi station in a jeep on February 18, 1970. Besides Vijayan, the CBI had chargesheeted constable Ramachandran Nair and another cop Lakshmana for the alleged fake encounter. *** T-leader moves top court Age Correspondent New Delhi Jan. 27: In an attempt to give a new dimension to the Telangana issue, a leader of the movement and former MP on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court for declaring the seats of 139 pro-Telangana MLAs, cutting across party lines, vacant in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, claiming that under the law their resignations are “deemed” to be accepted by the Speaker the moment he had received them. Listing 13 grounds under the Constitution, parliamentary rules, Assembly rules and procedures and precedents for treating the resignations of the 139 MLAs, submitted to Speaker N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on December 10, 2009 for action by the top court, former MP M. Narayan Reddy from Nizamabad described Speaker’s non-action on the resignations as violation of the legislators’ right to freedom of speech and expression. While seeking a direction to the Speaker to declare these seats vacant, Narayan Reddy’s counsel Subodh Markandey made a mention of the writ petition before a bench, headed by the CJI for urgent hearing.

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