Was sexual relationship between complainant, Eldhose Kunnappillil consensual?: High Court

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday asked the probe team to examine if the sexual relationship between Congress MLA Eldhose Kunnappillil was consensual or not.

The court was considering a plea by the complainant and the government requesting it to cancel the anticipatory bail granted to the legislator.

In a response to the court's query, the prosecution had said that the complainant has not raised sexual assault charges against the accused in the first complaint. A false complaint is as serious as a rape case, the court said.

The police also informed the court that the accused tried to push the complainant down from the suicide point at Kovalam.

Meanwhile, the court observed that the case appeared to be out of a movie script. The prosecution, however, said that the incident was real.

The court also stopped the proceedings initiated against Kunnapillil's lawyers. However, the FIR against them cannot be quashed, the court said.

A court had on November 3 granted anticipatory bail to Perumbavoor MLA Eldose Kunnapillil accused of rape and attempt to murder.

The woman, residing in Petta here, first lodged a complaint against the legislator on September 28. She accused him of physically assaulting her after forcefully taking her in his car. He came to her house in an inebriated condition and threatened to harm her family if she didn’t heed his advice, according to the complaint filed to the city police commissioner.

In her second complaint, the woman accused the MLA of forcefully taking her to a lawyer’s office, where he threatened her to withdraw the charges. She claimed the legislator locked the door and assaulted her when she refused the money.