The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed controversial Marxist leader M M Mani's plea for quashing the direction for further investigations into his alleged public statement about the party having 30 years ago, systematically annihilated political opponents in Idduki district.
A bench of justices P Sathasivam and Ranjan Gogoi, while declining to stay the criminal proceedings, however, issued notice to the Kerala government on Mani's petition challenging the registration of a second FIR in the case.
Solicitor General Rohinton Nariman appearing for the state government accepted the notice after the bench told the counsel that court would like to examine the legality of the second FIR.
The petitioner contended that registration of a second FIR was impermissible as all the accused had been acquitted in the case by the sessions court during 1985-86 and the high court had dismissed the appeal against acquittal.
Since the state did not appeal in the apex court the acquittal had attained finality, the petitioner contended.
Mani also cited a number of apex court rulings to substantiate the claim that a second FIR was impermissible in law.
He argued that the purported statement made by him was distorted by the media and the Congress government booked cases against him due to political vendetta.
Mani, who was Idukki district secretary of CPI-M, in a public meeting at Manakkad, Thodupuzha, allegedly stated that the Marxist party had eliminated at least three of its political foes in the 1980s.
A deeply embarrassed CPI-M had later removed him from the post.
Police had registered cases against Mani and five others on the basis of the disclosures, including one pertaining to the murder of a Congress worker who was shot dead on November 13, 1982.
The Kerala high court had earlier dismissed Mani's plea for quashing the direction for further investigation and registration of second FIR saying if such tendencies are not checked, it would sound the "death knell" of democracy.
Dismissing the petitions, the high court had said the speech and the revelations prima facie discloses commission of cognisable offence, which fully justifies registration of crime and said the investigation could go on.
"Right to dissent guaranteed in the Republic governed by democracy is met with a brutal force, and the dissenter is annihilated, whether it be as a retaliatory measure on the attacks made on one's party men or group and if it is not checked, then it will sound the death knell of democracy," the high court had said.
"Shocking revelations by Mani in his speech that brutal murders of some political activists opposed to his party while he was district secretary, was part of a sinister diabolical plan after a list was prepared by him to annihilate political opponents," the court had said.
Mani had contended that judicial magistrate Nedumkandam had no jurisdiction to order a further probe. When trial was concluded, the accused were acquitted and hence judgement of acquittal becomes final, he had submitted.
He had contended that the FIR in the case was prepared in Thiruvananthapuram at the instance of the chief minister and the home minister and was handed over to Idukki SP with a direction to register a crime.
There is no material available warranting registration of three new crimes, he stated.
The Marxist leader contended registration of a crime was part of a state level conspiracy hatched by Congress and the home minister who controls the Special Investigation Team, to destroy him and CPI-M.
