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State Congress expels Palakkad MLA after court rejects bail plea
The Kerala unit of the Congress on Thursday expelled rape-accused Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil on the same day a district court in Thiruvananthapuram rejected the latter's plea for anticipatory bail in the case.
Mamkootathil (36), a first-time MLA, faces serious charges of raping a woman, forcing her to get an abortion, and issuing verbal threats among others. He has also been accused by a second woman of raping her on the pretext of marriage and causing grievous physical injuries. The legislator is currently absconding.
Kerala Pradesh Congress committee chief Sunny Joseph told reporters in Idukki, “Rahul Mamkootathil stands expelled from the Congress. We had sought the approval of the AICC on the issue, which we received. This is a collective and unequivocal decision of the Congress leadership. It is better that he (Mamkootathil) now resign as MLA.”
“We have taken a decision which can serve as a model for other parties. When the allegations against him first surfaced in August, we removed him as state youth Congress chief, suspended from the party's primary membership and kept him away from the parliamentary grouping. At the time, there were no formal complaints. Now that KPCC has got a complaint, we forwarded it to the police. We have assessed (the gravity of the charges) and taken a collective decision,” he added.
The decision to expel the MLA came minutes after the Thiruvananthapuram district sessions court dismissed the latter's request for anticipatory bail in the case of raping a woman and forcing her to abort by giving her pills. Principal sessions judge S Nazeera pronounced the order in open court while a formal order is awaited.
The special investigation team of the state police, probing the case, had submitted all relevant materials pertaining to the case, including statements of doctors who treated the complainant and the forensic results of audio recordings between the accused and the survivor.
The accused MLA had argued in his bail petition that he was the victim of a political conspiracy aimed at ending his career. He claimed that he had a consensual relationship with the woman and that she consumed the abortion pills of her own volition.
Political rivals of the CPI(M) and the BJP had accused the Congress leadership of shielding the rape-accused MLA and shying from taking stern action against him. But Satheesan dismissed such allegations on Thursday. “When such serious charges arose against him, we did not try to protect him. We handed over the complaint to the police. This is exemplary action. (This case) will not affect our campaign for the local body polls. There are numerous such sexual assault cases within the CPI(M). Let that party first act,” he said.
Meanwhile, BJP leader K Surendran said, “What concerns the people is whether Rahul continues as MLA or not. It does not matter to them if he is inside or outside the party. The Congress must force him to quit as MLA.”
CPM leader and minister P Rajeev said, “There are leaders within Congress who claim that the leadership was aware of his past. So if they knew, why didn't they discourage him? They gave him a promotion. The allegations against the Palakkad MLA are shocking and unheard of.”
The Kerala police has cast a wide net across the state and neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in a bid to nab the absconding MLA. Last week, it had issued a lookout notice at all airports to prevent him from fleeing the country. A man, who drove the MLA and dropped him in Bengaluru last week, has been detained.
Source: HindustanTimes
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