On Monday, Kerala police arrested P Krishnadas, Chairman of the Nehru Group of Institutions, based on a complaint of harassment filed by a student from the institution,
Later, the Kerala High Court criticised the police action. But Justice Abraham Mathew's observations have come under a cloud of doubt after allegations that he was a friend or acquaintance of Krishnadas.
Jishnu Pranoy's mother, Mahija, meanwhile wrote to Chief Justice Navniti Prasad Singh, asking for an investigation into the allegations and into few photographs of the judge attending a function at Nehru College Lakkidi and holding talks with few staff members. These pictures had been doing the rounds on social media since Tuesday morning.
Based on the photographs Jishnu’s mother has given a complaint to the Chief Justice.
"Justice Abraham mathew, Nehru law academy principal Sebastian and the arrested Nehru group legal advisor Suchithra seen together at a two day tour organized by Nehru group few months ago. The students who attended this tour said that they remember Abraham Mathew saying that Krishnadas is a close friend of his. It is clear that Justice Abraham Mathew has a personal bias in this case. We demand that the judge be changed and that he should stay out of this case. Otherwise, people are likely to lose their belief in law and order,” a Facebook group named ‘Justice for Jishnu’ wrote in a post on Tuesday.
The leaked photographs show the judge speaking to legal advisor Suchithra and the Lakkidi college Principal Sebastian, both currently in police custody for the same case.
The photos were taken during a study tour to Nelliyambathi. Students allege that Justice Abraham Mathew had told them then that college principal Sebastian and Chairman Krishnadas were his close friends.
“Can a judge pass favourable orders after attending function at Nehru college? Judicial propriety became a question mark. He ought have avoided the case for the propriety of judiciary,” an HC advocate JS Ajith Kumar wrote.
Krishnadas’s bail plea will be heard tomorrow amidst all these allegations.
The High Court Judge had lashed out at police on Monday after he came to know that police had added non-bailable charges in the charge sheet, which were not there earlier.
The HC said that police cannot add charges under public pressure and added that police officers who did this, cannot be let off. The counsel for Krishnadas argued that the non-bailable charges were not added by police in the initial stage, but police added them later after anticipatory bail was granted to Krishnadas in the Jishnu Pranoy suicide case.
Krishnadas’s arrest was based on a complaint filed by Shaheer Shoukathali, a 2nd year LLB student from the Lakkidi campus, on January 2 this year.
The incident, Shaheer said, took place some days before January 6, the day when Jishnu Pranoy, a student from the Pambady campus, killed himself over alleged torture by college authorities. Krishnadas is the first accused in Jishnu Pranoy case, where he had received anticipatory bail.