Kerala govt gives nod to prosecute Jacob Thomas

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With only five days remaining for his retirement from service, the state government has given permission to the crime branch to prosecute DGP Jacob Thomas on criminal charges.
In the order issued by chief secretary Tom Jose (accessed by TOI), the government has accorded sanction to prosecute Jacob Thomas, for publishing his service story 'Sravukalkkoppam Neenthumbol' (Swimming with sharks), without prior permission of the government and by "using secret official information that he had access to, on his official capacity as director of vigilance and anti-corruption bureau". The government has also conveyed its decision to the Union home secretary.
The crime branch had registered a case against Jacob Thomas under the Police Forces (Restriction of Rights) Act, 1966, and in the probe, had reported that the officer had violated the sections of the Act. The crime branch had then requested the government to permit the agency to prosecute the officer, as per Section 197 of the criminal procedure code.
In April last year, the law department had given a strong opinion to the government recommending that the officer had indeed violated the section of the aforesaid Act, that can earn him an imprisonment up to two years.
As per the Section 3(c) of the aforesaid act, "no member of a police force shall without the express sanction of the Central government or of the prescribed authority communicate with the press or publish any book letter or other document except which such communication or publication is the bona fide discharge of his duties or is of a purely literary, artistic or scientific character or is of a prescribed nature".
The then law secretary B G Harindranath had given a legal opinion to the government that in the case of Jacob Thomas, he should have taken prior permission before publishing the book, and since it was not done, he had violated the Act and is liable to be charged under the Section 4 of the Act.
The law department also recommended invoking the provisions of the Act against Jacob Thomas as the department concluded that the book penned by Thomas is not a publication in bonafide discharge of his duties as a police officer. Neither is it a book of purely literary, artistic or scientific character or of a prescribed nature. Instead, the book can only be considered as just an autobiography containing excerpts from the cases which Thomas had investigated during his brief stint as the director of vigilance and anti-corruption bureau, the legal opinion had said.
The crime branch has also registered another case against the officer for illegally acquiring 50.33 acres in Rajapalayam in Tamil Nadu, disproportionate to his known sources of income. The case will be transferred to the vigilance and anti-corruption bureau for a detailed probe. Thomas, who had been on suspension for more than a year, is currently holding the position of managing director of Metal Industries Limited, Shoranur, on the basis of a favourable order from central administrative tribunal. He will retire from the service on May 31.