Kochi: Kerala high court on Thursday held that the victim in the Suryanelli case was entitled to be heard.
Justice P. Bhavadasan referred the plea filed by her against the earlier HC order discharging Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P.J. Kurien to a division bench and observed that the issues involved were of considerable relevance and importance and that they needed to be resolved by a division bench.
It could not be disputed that the order of discharge had worked to her prejudice.
“She was entitled to be made a party to the proceedings and she was entitled to be heard,” the court held.
The court also observed that the attitude displayed by the state in Kurien’s petition for discharging him from the case “appears to be disappointing.”
The state seemed to have preferred only a formal objection to the plea of discharge thereby indicating that it had no serious objection to granting the relief to the petitioner.
It is true that the state took up the matter before the apex court. But if the aggrieved persons feel that an appeal by the state was only a formality, they could not be found fault with.
Pointing out that there was a conflict of interest between the state and the victim in the P.J. Kurien issue, the court observed that the order was certainly to the prejudice of the complainant.
The victim argued that the order passed by the court was in gross violation of the principles of natural justice as the complainant in the case had not been heard.
The state government contended that Kurien was acquitted by the High Court for want of evidence. It had been six years and seven months since the verdict was passed discharging him and so there was no need to review its order now, the state said.
