Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Monday, September 19 played visuals of him being interrupted while speaking at the 80th Indian History Congress in Kannur, Kerala in December 2019 to claim that the police did not register a case under Section 124 of the Indian Penal Code despite it being a cognisable offence. He also alleged that a senior political functionary, who now works in the Chief Minister's Office, prevented the police from acting against the protesters. The second set of visuals shared by him showed KK Ragesh, who is currently Private Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, standing between the protesters and the police with his arms spread.
The visuals screened by the Governor, through two wide TV screens set up at the Raj Bhavan auditorium, showed Professor Irfan Habeeb walking up to him and trying to interrupt his speech. Before playing the visuals, the Governor read out from Section 124 of the IPC to show that a case should have been registered: “Whoever, with the intention of inducing or compelling the President of India, or Governor of any State, to exercise or refrain from exercising in any manner any of the lawful powers of such President or Governor, assaults or wrongfully restrains, or attempts wrongfully to restrain, or overawes, by means of criminal force or the show of criminal force, or attempts so to overawe, such President or Governor, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.”
"I hope you will appreciate that as per this provision, it is a cognisable offence and need not be reported to the police. Whatever happened in Kannur happened in the presence of more than 100 policemen," the Governor said, alleging that no case was registered despite him being intimidated while on the dais. The police personnel tried to control the situation and stopped the people from reaching me, he said.
The Governor, referring to KK Ragesh, alleged that "a senior functionary, who is in the Chief Minister's Office, can be seen in the video preventing police from discharging their functions." This was happening in a state “where people were arrested for wearing black shirts,” he quipped, referring to reports of recent protests against the Chief Minister.
Answering a question from the media on why he had not raised the allegation of being intimidated while attending the inaugural function of the Indian History Congress in 2019, the Governor said he did not want to argue his own case and was under the impression that since the incidents were widely reported, the police would register a case on their own as per provisions of the Act.
"Mr Ragesh stopped the police from doing their duty. Possibly that is why he has been rewarded," the Governor added. Ragesh, a former Rajya Sabha MP is the husband of Priya Varghese, who the Kannur University had picked as Malayalam Associate Professor. The move to appoint her had created a huge controversy, with the Governor opposing the appointment as there were allegations of other qualified candidates being bypassed.
The letters exchanged between the Chief Minister and the Governor over the appointment of the Kannur University Vice Chancellor and curtailing the powers of the Governor’s office as Chancellor of universities in the state were also released.
"I am sick of this pressure which is brought upon me and I don't want to continue as chancellor," the Governor said while speaking about the letter he wrote to the Chief Minister about the controversy over the appointment of Gopinath Raveendran as the Kannur University VC.
Khan further alleged that the attention of the state government was focused on silencing the voice of those differing with it and that even the Raj Bhavan had not been spared. He said the government tried to interfere in the functioning of the Raj Bhavan by questioning appointments to his staff and therefore he took action against the same.
"They had to eat humble pie. I knew the man (government official who wrote a letter questioning the appointment) was innocent. But I wanted to send a message that these pressure tactics will not work on me. Even that has not opened their eyes. The pressure tactics are continuing even now. That and other reasons prompted me to raise the issue now," the Governor said.
With PTI inputs