Marunadan Malayali Editor Shajan Skariah moves Kerala High Court over 'politically-motivated' arrest threats
Earlier on June 30, the Kerala High Court refused to give anticipatory bail to the Chief editor of Marunadan Malayali Shajan Skariah. Following the earlier denial of his anticipatory bail by a Special Court, Shajan—who is also the publisher of the YouTube channel—filed an appeal with the court.
FollowKochi: Marunadan Malayali Editor Shajan Skariah has moved the High Court seeking anticipatory bail following threats of arrest in various cases. A request to stop the arrest without giving notice was made to the High Court. The petition alleged a threatening Facebook post by Nilambur MLA PV Anwar.
Also read: SC relief for Marunadan Malayali editor Shajan Skariah; he will not be arrested
According to Live Law, Skariah filed a petition with the High Court in a case stating that he talked with a priest via his YouTube channel with the dishonest intention of demeaning and humiliating the priest, among other religions.
A crime was registered by the Police on the complaint made by a person alleging that Skariah committed offenses punishable under Sections 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence), 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief) of IPC.
CPI(M) MLA PV Anvar in his Facebook post claimed that he has about 107 FIRs against Skariah. The Marunadan Malayali Chief Editor alleged in the petition that there is a possibility of arrest in these cases using political influences. He alleged that the ruling party MLA is conspiring to overturn the Supreme Court verdict and sought to send a directive to the DGP in this regard. He also alleged in the petition that there is a conspiracy to frame him in more cases as the Supreme Court granted temporary protection from arrest in the SC/ST case.
The Supreme Court on Monday (July 10) granted temporary protection from arrest to Shajan Skariah in a criminal case under the SC/ST Act including making derogatory statements against MLA PV Sreenijin. The judgement was made by the bench made up of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha in response to a special leave petition filed by Skariah challenging the Kerala High Court's dismissal of his appeal against the Special Court's denial of anticipatory bail in the case. Sreenijin's complaint led to the filing of the FIR.
