Thiruvananthapuram: The first class judicial magistrate, Thodupuzha, has dismissed a petition alleging that CPM leader M.M. Mani had made a provocative speech at Manakkad in 2012 threatening law and order and encouraging riot. The court allowed a plea filed by Mr Mani seeking to
discharge him from the infamous ‘1,2,3’ speech.
Mr Mani had delivered the speech on May 25, 2012 when he was Idukki district secretary of the CPM. He had said that the party had prepared a list of 13 persons and one of them was shot dead, the second beaten to death and the third was stabbed to death.
Subsequently, the Thodupuzha police filed a case against him over the shooting of Anchery Baby, a Youth Congress leader, allegedly by CPM activists on November 13, 1982.
The police registered a crime against nine persons and all of them were charge-sheeted. However, Mr Mani’s name was not mentioned. Later in 1985, all the nine accused were acquitted by the Thodupuzha court.
The Thodupuzha police registered a fresh FIR against Mr Mani based on his killer speech. Shanthanpara police probed the case and decided to combine the two FIRs registered in the case--one against CPM Idukki district secretary K.K. Jayachandran MLA and the other against Mr Mani in June 2012. Mr Mani was arrested and sent to judicial custody for 45 days.
