Court grants bail to activist Rahul Easwar in defamation case

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 15 (PTI) A court here on Monday granted bail to activist Rahul Easwar in a case related to the alleged defamation of a woman on whose complaint MLA Rahul Mamkootathil was booked for sexual harassment and forced abortion charges.

Easwar was granted bail after spending around 15 days in judicial custody.

When the bail application came up before the Thiruvananthapuram District and Principal Sessions Court, the prosecution strongly opposed the plea, contending that the accused was likely to repeat the offence if released on bail.

The defence, however, argued that Easwar would not repeat the alleged act and that a major portion of the investigation against him had already been completed.

After hearing both sides, Judge Nazeera S allowed the bail plea.

The court imposed a condition that Easwar should not repeat the same offence while granting the bail, officials said.

Easwar had been openly supporting expelled Congress MLA Mamkootathil, claiming that he was falsely implicated in the case.

Apart from Easwar, Congress leader Sandeep Warrier is also an accused in the case, and his anticipatory bail plea is currently pending before the court.

Speaking to reporters after his release from jail, activist Rahul Easwar alleged that he was arrested without being served a notice.

“The prosecution told the court that I was arrested after giving a notice. You can verify whether that is true,” he said.

He also alleged that when his bail plea came up for consideration before the court on Thursday last week, the public prosecutor informed the court that the police report was pending.

“However, the police had already submitted their report. Even the police officers were irritated and questioned the prosecutor about it. The intention was to keep me in jail until the elections were over,” he alleged.

Easwar further claimed that the Chief Minister and his party wanted to campaign using the Mamkootathil case to counter the Sabarimala issue.

“They knew that if I was out, I would campaign against it,” he said. PTI TBA ROH