Keezhvaypoor Police, near Mallappalli, Pathanamthitta district, Kerala, has registered FIR against K.T. Jaleel, former minister and sitting MLA, under IPC 153 (B) Section 2 and Prevention of Intention To National Honour Act 1971. It alleges that Jaleel insulted the national prestige. FIR reads that despite being a citizen of Bharat, KT. Jaleel had described in his Facebook post of August 12, 2022, Jammu Kashmir, a state of Bharat under its Constitution as “Indian Occupied Kashmir” and PoK, the part of Kashmir which Pakistan occupied by force, as “Azad Kashmir”. Its motives were to insult our Constitution and to create riots in our country. FIR continues that it meant to encourage anti-national elements, to hurt the national sentiments hence to create disharmony among the people.
K.T. Jaleel’s anti-national posts had invited the wrath of all right thinking people and nationalist forces. Workers of RSS, BJP, VHP and Hindu Aikyavedi led numerous protests throughout the state as soon as the ‘traitor post’ was aired. Congress-led LDF denounced too. But, CPM top brass observed silence except for one of the ministers who said that it was ‘not CPM’s view’. Those who keenly follow Kerala politics know that Jaleel is CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s blue eyed boy.
Jaleel’s FB post contained lot of historic blunders which were purposely highlighted, thanks to Jaleel’s SIMI past. Jaleel, a PhD holder in History, went to the extent of stating the nonsense that British had divided Kashmir into two before the independence! It was his tricky game to exonerate Pakistan from the charge of attacking Kashmir after independence and grabbing a part of the territory and naming it Azad Kashmir.
Thiruvilla First Class Magistrate Court ordered to register the case against Jaleel on August 23. It was upon filing of a petition by RSS activist Arun Kumar. Court instructed Keezvaypoor Police to register the case against Jaleel. Earlier Arun had filed a complaint before the very same police station, but police did not bother to register a case. Consequently he moved the court.
Jaleel’s FB post was uploaded during his official trip to Kashmir. When it created hatred and anger against him, he withdrew it with some ridiculous excuses. He said in his new FB post that his earlier post caused some ‘misunderstandings’. He lamented that some references caused results contrary to his intention hence he withdrew it for the ‘welfare of the country’. He said that he had put the contentious terminologies in ‘double inverted commas’.
He told on the floor of the house on Aug 24 that he is being attacked for no reason. He claims, Pt. Nehru had used the terminology “Azad Kashmir”. Interestingly he uttered these rubbish statements while participating in a discussion on a bill which has nothing to do with this issue.
Jaleel joined CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) after spending some time in Indian Union Muslim League, the party he joined after SIMI was banned. LDF gave him assembly election ticket and now he is an MLA for the last three terms. He was the Higher Education Minister in the first Pinarayi regime. During his tenure as the minister he was always an epicentre of controversies. He was always alleged to have practised favouritism. But, he had to resign before completing his tenure when Yok Ayukta found him practising nepotism. It observed that Jaleel influenced the Kerala State Minority Welfare Corporation (KSMWC) to appoint his relative as its General Manager. He was alleged to have manipulated the specifications for the lucrative job to match his man’s academic qualifications so that no one else could even apply for the job! Therefore, Yok Aukta decreed that Jaleel could not continue in the (first) Pinarayi Cabinet. It also observed that his action was amounted to be “lacking integrity” and “abuse of power, favouritism, nepotism and violation of oath of office”.
Now, Delhi Police has sought legal opinion to frame a case against Jaleel for the same reason. It is on the basis of a petition filed by G.S. Mani, a lawyer, at Tilak Nagar Police Station.
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