Kerala home minister caught in son controversy
Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan is in the eye of a controversy over his son Bineesh failing to appear in court for a three-year-old case, despite the expiry of the bail period.
The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate S. Soman here criticised the police for having failed to serve a warrant on the minister's son.
The case against Bineesh pertains to an incident that occurred in 2003 when he, along with a few others, forcibly released student activists who were arrested in connection with an agitation. Bineesh was granted bail in the case but failed to appear in the court following the expiry of the bail period.
The magistrate was peeved Wednesday when he found that the warrant issued against Bineesh could not be served because he could not be located.
Soman has now directed the police to produce Bineesh before the court.
Thiruvananthapuram commissioner of police Manoj Abraham said they had been unable to locate Bineesh as his address mentioned in the warrant said he was staying in a flat owned by the Communist Party of India - Marxist here.
"The police who had gone with warrant could not locate him there because he had already moved out of the flat. Moreover, he was in Bangalore at that time," Abraham told IANS.
He added it would take time for the warrant to be re-issued and Bineesh could apply for bail again by the time the next hearing comes up in September.
National youth congress secretary Deepthi Mary Varghese said it is shameful that while the home minister is protecting his son, women in Kerala are being roughed up on the streets for taking part in democratic protests. Deepthi was assaulted by police while leading an agitation here against state public works minister P.J. Joseph last week.
However, the senior Kodiyeri is relieved that the issue has not been raked up in the Kerala assembly by the opposition, despite the media going to town stating that Bineesh was happily staying with his father all the while.
