The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by Akhilesh G, challenging a Kerala High Court order rejecting his bail plea. He is accused of instigating violence and riots against the Emperor Emmanuel Church in Thrissur, Kerala.
Dismissing the SLP, the bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta remarked it is not inclined to interfere with the impugned judgment of the High Court.
While rejecting the bail plea on January 31, 2024, the Kerala High Court had observed that considering the materials placed on record and the nature, gravity, and seriousness of the offence alleged against the petitioner, custodial interrogation was necessary. The High Court added the accused has not made any exceptional grounds to invoke extraordinary jurisdiction under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
It is reported the petitioner along with some other people had come near the church on December 30, 2022 for causing breach of peace and riots. The accused also filmed a video and issued threats of destroying the place of worship. Later on January 4, 2023, the accused along with co-accused Ranjith Ravindran and others uploaded a video on social media, showing illegal meeting of few persons against the church.
The video was uploaded on Facebook page, View Point, a media company belonging to the petitioner. Akhilesh G, who is allegedly the main perpetrator is said to be the Managing Director of the aforesaid company located in Alappuzha. A counter affidavit, filed by the Emperor Emmanuel Church, claimed that the petitioner has made derogatory statements against the church.
Furthermore, on January 27, 2023, when the church was conducting their annual festival, the accused persons allegedly conducted a meeting in the vicinity and raised anti-slogans with the intention of causing harm. The church members had approached the local police but they denied any untoward incident.
The Church in its counter affidavit stated that the petitioner posted inflammatory posts on Facebook that contained specific threats to life and property of the Church, falsely accusing the believers and followers of the Church being involved in serious offences such as drug trafficking, prostitution, assault to children and women etc.
The affidavit added that the petitioner in his video made grave statements that Emperor Zion Church and its members and followers will be finished using criminal force in an operation similar to the Babri Masjid demolition.
It further stated that though the petitioner denied that the Hindu Maha Sabha had anything to do with the alleged videos, the entire aspects root to the criminal conspiracy in furtherance of which other video was uploaded with the intention to cause riots among the Church members and some other people.
The counter affidavit also underlined that the petitioner concealing his identity acted as a journalist and used a Facebook page to disfigure the Church and its members.
Furthermore, it also asserted that the people interviewed in a video were former members of the Church who time and again tried to falsely implicate the Church and its believers with the motive of defaming the name of the Church. It claimed that there is a conspiracy to destroy the Church, its reputation and the lives of its members which needs urgent investigation which is possible only after the custodial interrogation of the petitioner.