Pathanamthitta , 17 Jan(H.S.):

Expelled Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil will continue to remain in judicial custody after the Thiruvalla Judicial First Class Magistrate Court rejected his bail application in the third rape case registered against him.

The order was pronounced by Magistrate Arundhati Dileep, following an extensive hearing conducted behind closed doors.

The court decided to hear the arguments in camera after the prosecution submitted that open proceedings could risk revealing the identity of the survivor. Acting on the request made by Assistant Public Prosecutor M.G. Devi, the magistrate asked the defence whether it had any objection to a closed hearing. The defence consented, and all individuals not directly connected with the case were asked to leave the courtroom before arguments commenced.

During the proceedings, the prosecution objected to the magistrate court entertaining the case, arguing that the matter ought to be examined by a sessions court. However, the defence countered this claim by citing earlier judicial precedents, including past orders of the Kerala High Court, to assert that the magistrate court was competent to hear the matter at this stage.

Opposing the grant of bail, the prosecution contended that the accused is a politically influential individual with high-level connections and therefore posed a risk of influencing witnesses. It was also submitted that the survivor is currently abroad and has not returned to India due to apprehensions over personal safety, further underscoring the possibility of intimidation if bail were granted.

The defence challenged the very basis of the case, arguing that the police had registered the FIR without obtaining a clear and direct statement from the complainant. The arrest, the defence maintained, was illegal and carried out in violation of established legal procedures and court-mandated safeguards.

Highlighting that the accused had already been granted anticipatory bail by the High Court in a similar case, the defence stressed that as a sitting legislator, Rahul Mamkootathil was neither a flight risk nor someone likely to abscond. The defence further claimed that the alleged relationship was consensual and submitted chat messages and audio recordings between the accused and the complainant to support this assertion.

After considering the submissions from both sides, the magistrate rejected the bail plea, ordering that the MLA continue in judicial custody. The decision marks a significant development in the politically sensitive case and is expected to have wider legal and political ramifications in the days ahead.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman