Kerala High Court grants bail to two Youth Congress workers who accosted Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on flight

The Kerala High Court on Thursday granted bail to two Indian Youth Congress members who had recently accosted Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on a flight and raised slogans demanding his resignation over the allegations raised against him by gold smuggling accused, Swapna Suresh. [Furseen Majeed & Anr. v State of Kerala].Justice Viju Abraham noted that the two men's actions were only part of political agitation and that there was no allegation as to them harbouring some personal enmity towards the Chief Minister."There is no case for the prosecution that the petitioners were carrying any weapon and admittedly petitioners being inside an aircraft, which is a high security zone, there is no possibility for any of the petitioners to carry any weapon also. The investigating agency has no case that the motive for the alleged incident is of any personal enmity and it is the specific contention of the petitioners that the same was part of a political agitation," the Court observed in its order..After the incident occurred on June 13 aboard a passenger aircraft in which the Chief Minister was travelling, the two men were arrested for commission of offences punishable under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) , 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 307(attempted murder) , 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as provisions of the Aircraft Act 1934, the Aircraft Rules, 2012, and the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982.The petitioners filed an application for bail but the magistrate court dismissed it holding that it does not have the jurisdiction to entertain the same, as the offence punishable under the provision of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982 have also been invoked..Before the High Court, advocate T Asaf Ali, appearing for the petitioners submitted that they only raised slogans as part of peaceful protest and by by no stretch of imagination can mere raising of slogans be portrayed as an attempt to kill. In fact, it was they who were injured as they were allegedly attacked by the Chief Minister's companion and security detail causing injuries that had to be treated at a hospital, the petitioners contended. .This was countered by the Director General of Prosecution, Senior Advocate TA Shaji, who argued that the custodial interrogation of the petitioners is necessary as it is suspected that there was a larger criminal conspiracy at play.It was also pointed out that the accused are involved in several other criminal cases..The Court, however, did not see the need for further custodial interrogation and granted bail with a direction to co-operate with the investigation and subject to stringent conditions. .[Read Order]