Pongala case: Breach of privilege notice against CM

Tuesday, March 13, 2012: V Sivankutty MLA on Tuesday served a breach of privilege notice against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in connection with the police move to register cases against a large number of women for offering Pongala on the road in Thiruvananthapuram on March 7.

The notice has been served on Chief Minister allegedly for not fulfilling the assurance given in the Kerala Assembly. However the city police have submitted a refer report in the Court here seeking permission to withdraw the cases against women. The report was submitted by the Thiruvananthapuram Fort police along with the Thampanoor police, sources said. The report indicates that the Attukal pongala is famous religious ritual and had not created any problems for the public as (March 7) was declared a public holiday by the State government.

The report submitted by the Fort police before the judicial first class magistrate Court (2) was approved and the report submitted by the Thampanoor police was rejected by the judicial first class magistrate Court (3).

The police move to register cases against a large number of women has landed the UDF government in a highly embarrassing position.The police had registered a suo motu case against the women as per the Kerala High Court directive imposing a ban on wayside meetings. The case was registered for creating a road block and restricting free movement.

The Opposition alleged hat this could not have happened without the ‘silent permission’ of the Chief Minister and the State Police Chief. Meanwhile the Thiruvananthapuram Deputy Commissioner of Police- VC Mohanan has been suspended pending enquiry for registering case against women who took part in the Attukal pongala.

The police had registered a suo motu case against around 10,000 women for creating a road block and restricting free movement during the famous Attukal pongala festival held on March 7.

DCP was sacked following the report submitted by Additional chief secretary K Jayakumar and as per the direction of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Chief Minister also informed that the suo motu case registered against the women has been withdrawn and First Information Report (FIR) has been quashed.