Serious offences should be invoked for holding CPI(M) meeting by blocking road: Kerala HC

Court also expresses concern over alarming rise in road accidents

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday orally observed that if the stage for holding an area committee meeting of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M) ] was put up by digging the road at Vanchiyoor in Thiruvananthapuram, serious offences will have to be invoked against the organisers as well as those who attended it.

The Bench comprising Justice Anil K. Narendran and Justice Muralee Krishna S. further orally observed that persons who organised the meeting or persons who attended it should face the consequence. In fact, penal provisions would have to be invoked against them for causing obstruction to pedestrians. The court would consider the question whether suo motu proceedings under Article 215 of the Constitution for flouting a High Court judgement against encroachments on roads and footpath should be initiated against the organisers and others.

Police inaction flayed

The inaction of the police in preventing such an activity on public roads amounted to flagrant violation of the earlier directions of the High Court.

The court while expressing concern over the alarming rise in road accidents pointed out that as per the statistics provided on the official website of Kerala Police, the number of road accidents in the State in 2024 up to October is 40,821 in which 3,168 persons died and 45,657 persons sustained injuries. The rash and negligent driving in the State has gone to the extent of causing accidents, in which even pedestrians walking through footpaths or waiting in pedestrian facilities provided on the side of public roads sustained fatal injuries.

Published - December 16, 2024 07:03 pm IST