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Sabarimala: Kerala HC Dismisses BJP Leader's Plea On Police Action, Calls It 'Cheap Publicity'

Shobha Surendran alleged that thousands of people have been illegally arrested and detained by the Kerala police.
A file photo of Shobha Surendran.
Facebook/Shobha Surendran.
A file photo of Shobha Surendran.

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shobha Surendran. The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) had alleged increase in illegal police arrests, including the people involved in protests at Sabarimala. The court imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on her.

The high court said her petition was for "cheap publicity" and an "abuse" of the court process.

A division bench of Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar termed as "mischievous" the PIL seeking a direction to the state government to furnish all cases that resulted in acquittals from 7 January, 2014 till now and also the designation and names of the officers who had probed the cases, reported PTI.

Surendran, according to The Times of India, had alleged that thousands of people had been illegally arrested and detained by the state police, but no action had been taken against those officials.

She also alleged that police were harassing Sabarimala pilgrims and as an interim relief, she sought a direction to the state government and state police chief to furnish list of devotees arrested after the Supreme Court judgment permitting entry of women into the shrine, reported News18.

She also accused the police of registering several false cases against the poor and downtrodden in the state.

Surendran cited alleged incidents of an IPS officer daring to question a high court judge during his Sabarimala pilgrimage and humiliation of a Union minister by the same officer on the pretext of maintaining law and order.

According to NDTV, Surendran wants to move the Supreme Court against the high court's decision. "Why should we pay anything? Isn't it our right to bring facts to the court's notice?" she was quoted as saying in the report.

(With PTI inputs)

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.