The last 13 months in the life of PK Suresh Kumar, a former media person from Ernakulam, were centred around the Kerala High Court. He went to the court 52 times, appeared before 10 judges across three benches, and argued his own case over 22 sittings. His opponent was no less than the court itself — Suresh had been held in contempt over Facebook posts where he alleged there were links between the Sangh Parivar and two High Court judges.
At the end of the 13 months, on July 16, Suresh was sentenced to three days’ imprisonment and Rs 2,000 fine. Speaking to TNM over phone after serving his sentence, Suresh described his protracted legal tussle. “I am probably the first Scheduled Castes person to be punished in a contempt of court case,” he said.
In his Facebook posts, he had alleged that senior judges of the High Court, especially judges on the Devaswom Bench, were affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He said this based on several reports about a senior judge attending events organised by the Sangh, including the inauguration of a Seva Bharati unit in the district.
Sentencing him, the judgement stated, “Suresh claimed that the senior judge of the bench was motivated by a desire to curry favour with certain institutions outside the Collegium system of the Honourable Supreme Court in pursuit of elevation.” It added, “He attributed improper motives to a sitting judge of this court, alleging that the judge had publicly endorsed the Sangh Parivar and participated in events organised by such groups, purportedly to secure favour from them.
Suresh had also alleged that a particular judgement of the High Court’s Devaswom Bench had cost the state government several crore rupees. “The HC had halted the production and sale of aravana at Sabarimala due to a conflict over the contract tendered for cardamom. When the case reached the Supreme Court, the court observed that the Devaswom Bench should not have even heard the case. I wrote a post about that,” Suresh said.
The judgement stated that the “respondent made serious allegations that lawyers affiliated with the Sangh Parivar were frequenting the chambers of the learned judge and exerting undue influence in Devaswom related matters, by offering inducements.”
Suresh, who studied till Class 10, made a special request to have all the court proceedings in Malayalam, and argued his case all by himself. “The High Court is closed off for the public. By arguing my case myself, I got access to the court, and was able to study its workings. As someone interested in public affairs and the media, I hope it will be useful for me later.”
There is another reason why Suresh became his own lawyer. “This is a case against the court itself. No lawyer would want to sabotage their career by arguing against the court and its senior judges. Even if I were to access the provision for free legal counsel, they wouldn’t be as invested in the case as I am.”
Suresh alleged that he was harassed by the legal system throughout the 13 months and that there were several procedural irregularities in the handling of the case.
He said the case was transferred to a different bench three times, in a practice known as bench shunting. “At one point, the case was listed for a bench involving a judge who is part of the Devaswom Bench—an affected party in the contempt case being heard.”
He filed an interlocutor application against this in December 2024. This application was dismissed, against which he then complained to the Chief Justice. However, the complaint was withheld for close to seven months, and was presented before the Chief Justice only a day after he was sentenced in the contempt case.
He said, “By the end of the 13 months, the bench comprising Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan and Jobin Sebastian were convinced that the case was a trivial one. But they couldn’t let me go without punishment as it was a suo moto case registered by the court and letting me go would become an acknowledgement of the harassment they put me through. They gave me a namesake sentence to save face.”