Thiruvananthapuram Sessions Court, on Thursday, October 20 granted anticipatory bail to Congress MLA Eldhose Kunnapily, who is booked on charges of assault and abuse based on a complaint by a woman, who has accused him of assaulting her multiple times. The bail was granted to the Perumbavoor MLA under certain conditions, one of which included him to appear before the investigation team on Saturday, October 22.
The sessions court has also barred Eldhose from leaving the state, as well as from making provocative posts on social media. The Congress MLA has also been asked to not use his powers as a legislator to influence the complainant or any of the witnesses in the case. Meanwhile, speaking to the media about the bail granted to Eldhose, the complainant woman said that she is not in the right frame of mind to react.
Earlier this month, a case was registered against Eldhose, at the Kovalam police station, under sections 362 (abduction), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (assault or criminal force on woman to outrage her modesty), 506 (1) -- criminal intimidation -- and 34 (criminal act by several persons with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Speaking to the media, on October 12, about the the physical assault she was allegedly subjected to by Eldhose, the complainant woman said that the assault was said to have taken place on September 14, when the MLA allegedly came drunk to the survivor’s house in Thiruvananthapuram and insisted that she accompany him. She also alleged that she was beaten and forced to go with him in the car. “It was not I who called the police on that day, the onlookers who witnessed the attack did. When people gathered, the MLA claimed that I was his wife and took me away,” the woman had said.