City police exploring grounds for appeal against Mahendra Kumar’s acquittal

Mangaluru: Mangaluru City police are awaiting the formal judgment copy from the second JMFC court that on February 6 absolved then firebrand Hindutva leader turned social activist Mahendra Kumar of wrongdoing in the infamous church attack case of September 2011. Mahesh B T, second JMFC court judge, acquitting Kumar of the charges, meant that Kumar had come clean in all 13-odd cases filed against him in six courts in the state.
City police chief T R Suresh told TOI that based on the opinion of the prosecution, the city police could explore avenues of appealing against the verdict of the JMFC court in a higher court. Since this was the last of the cases against Kumar, and the verdict has come in the last week, we are well within our rights to explore avenues to appeal the verdict before the district court, which oversees functioning of the subordinate JMFC court, he said.

“We have applied for the judgment copy through the prosecution,” Suresh said, adding the judgments of previous acquittals of Kumar along with the latest one will be gone through threadbare and grounds for appeal explored. “If the prosecution gives its opinion favouring the appeal, we will go ahead,” he said, adding the end aim is to ensure that justice is served and any lacunae on part of the department and prosecution rectified.

An unperturbed Kumar told TOI that the time-frame for appeal in most of the acquittals is over. “Even in the latest February 6 acquittal, chances of it getting overturned in a higher court is rare in that the subordinate court would have examined all the evidence and facts before it in great detail before pronouncing its judgment,” he said. The higher court has to examine the same facts and evidence on hand in case of an appeal, he pointed out.

Basing his optimism of facing fresh legal setbacks on account of cases, he said, “I was not directly involved in any of the attacks and reasons why the then BJP government foisted the cases is known to all.” “Besides, it was VHP leader M B Puranik who did most of the talking at a press meet after the attacks, and I have been targeted for the few odd lines that I uttered at the same press meet, and nothing new will come out even in case of an appeal,” he added.