The Chief Judicial Magistrate Court (CJM) in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday rejected the Pinarayi Government's plea that the criminal cases slapped against sitting (two of them ministers) and former LDF legislators for vandalising the Assembly on Budget Day on March 13, 2015, should be withdrawn.

The CJM court's order was issued just 15 days after the High Court had directed the lower court to decide on the LDF government's withdrawal petition within two months.

All the seven accused have been asked to appear before the CJM court on October 15. Though there is a chargesheet against them, none of the accused has bothered to appear before the court even once. They have not taken bail, either.

The accused include two ministers (EP Jayarajan and KT Jaleel) and four former LDF legislators: CPM's V Sivankutty, C K Sadasivan and K Kunjahmed Master, and CPI's K Ajith.

The Budget Day violence on March 13, 2015, was the chaotic climax of the LDF's political decision to prevent then finance minister K M Mani from not just presenting the budget but also entering the House. The UDF legislators but hoodwinked their LDF counterparts, sneaked the minister inside the House providing layers of protection and made him read out of the Assembly speech. Thwarted, the LDF members ran riot.

Officially, the damages were estimated to be Rs 2.2 lakh. Four imported mike units worth Rs 1.46 lakh were the costliest items destroyed. The damage to the Speaker's chair pushed down by E P Jayarajan and Jaleel was estimated to be Rs 20,000. The damage inflicted on the Speaker's monitor was worth Rs 28,000.

It was on the basis of an application filed by V Sivankutty, one of the accused, that the LDF government moved the court to withdraw the cases. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala had moved the court objecting to the plea. By then two activists of National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) - M T Thomas and Peter Njalipparambil - had already moved a petition challenging the withdrawal plea.

It is under Section 3(1) of the Prevention of Destruction of Public Property (PDPP) Act that criminal cases were slapped against the six when they were legislators in the 13th Assembly. The Section lays down rigorous imprisonment of up to five years for those found guilty. It is also tough to secure bail under this Section. The bail will be granted only if the accused furnishes a sum as bond that is equal to the value of the public property damaged.

"If a case is taken against a school student for damaging property, he would be granted bail only after the penalty is paid. This being the norm, it would be a mockery of justice if MLAs are let scot-free after wilfully damaging Assembly property worth more than two lakh rupees," MT Thomas told Onmanorama.

The government had argued that the trial would cast the Assembly in a bad light, and therefore would be against public interest. “The Legislative Assembly, under the direct control of the Speaker, should not be pulled into a criminal court, particularly without the sanction of the Speaker. The said trial, if not controlled, may destroy or lower the dignity and privilege of the house among the citizenry. So the continuance of prosecution may bring certain irreparable damage to public interest,” the government petition said.

The CJM court on Tuesday said there was no basis for such an argument.