Kerala High Court starts criminal case on Jacob Thomas for contempt

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday initiated criminal contempt proceedings against former Vigilance director Jacob Thomas. The court directed Mr Thomas, currently under suspension, to appear before it in person on April 2.
The court initiated the contempt proceedings based on a complaint filed by an advocate to the High Court registrar. The complainant said that Mr Thomas had committed contempt by levelling allegations against two sitting judges and the Lok Ayukta in a complaint submitted to the Central Vigilance Commissioner and that the copy of the complaint has been disseminated to the media.

The court observed that since the Vigilance commission was not having authority to probe judges, filing a complaint against the judiciary before the commission amounts to criminal contempt. Mr Thomas, in his complaint to the CVC, had submitted that two sitting judges in the HC and the Lok Ayukta had tried to personally defame him and that the conspiracy behind it should be investigated.

The complaint alleged that a conspiracy had been hatched against him at the highest levels and that the influence of the judiciary had been misused in the matter. He submitted a series of observations made by the court in connection with various cases including Pattoor land case, battery case against K.M. Mani, Vigilance case against Anoop Jacob and many others. The attitude of the court had impacted the efforts to curb corruption in the state, he alleged.