The court to try special cases against MLAs and MPs that came into existence on Saturday would soon have eight members of the State Cabinet, among other elected representatives, standing trial before it.
The Ministers, MPs, and MLAs are facing procedures which could lead to their being proclaimed as absconders and attachment of their property in case they do not appear before the court.
They were booked for unlawful assembly, rioting armed with deadly weapons, and causing danger to or obstruction in public way.
Public agitations
Usually, such cases are booked against politicians while leading public agitations.
Kollam MP N.K. Premachandran, and MLAs M. Swaraj, I.B. Satheesh, A.N. Shamseer, Antony John, and T.V. Rajesh are the others facing these charges under Sections 82 and 83 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
Courts resort to coercive measures such as declaration of the accused in such cases as absconders and ordering attachment of their property when they fail to appear in court even after being served with summons and warrants against them become unenforceable.
The proceedings would be dropped when the warrant is recalled by the court or the accused appears before the court.
The proceedings may also be cancelled when the cases against the accused are withdrawn by the government.
Warrants pending
Two non-bailable and one bailable warrants are pending against Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac whereas Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran has one non-bailable warrant against his name.
In the case of non-bailable warrants, the accused needs to obtain bail from the court on personal appearance.
The numbers
Among the Ministers, Mr. Surendran has the maximum number of cases (7) against him, followed by Dr. Isaac (6), Ms. Shylaja (3) and Power Minister M.M. Mani (2). Ministers A.K. Saseendran, A.K. Balan, T.P. Ramakrishnan and Mathew T. Thomas have one case each against them.
Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan stands accused in one case of rioting and unlawful assembly, says the court records. Mr. Shamseer has 10 non-bailable warrants against him followed by Mr. Rajesh (4), Mr. Swaraj and C.K. Saseendran (3 each) and Mr. John (2).
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala and K. Muraleedharan of the Congress, P.K. Kunhalikutty, MP, of the IUML and C. Divakaran and Mullakkara Ratnakaran of the CPI are also among those booked under cases related to political agitations.
