Congress, BJP protest Kerala govt’s move to release criminals

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress-led opposition and the BJP on Thursday said they would move court against the Kerala government for its clemency list contains criminals, who if released would compromise the security of the state.

The list of 1,911 inmates prepared by the Kerala Prisons Department for clemency was officially made available to the media on Thursday morning after it was sent to the government.

The government, in turn, pruned the list to 1,850 prisoners and sent it to Governor P Sathsaivam for approval.

Last month, Sathasivam had returned the list and sought clarification on a few issues.

Among those included in the list are all the 11 persons convicted for the high-profile murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party founder T P Chandrasekeran in 2012.

“This is a blatant violation of power by the (Chief Minister Pinarayi) Vijayan government who had the audacity to include heinous criminals in the list of prisoners seeking clemency,” Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress told the media.

“We will not just tackle this politically but also legally,” he said.

State Bharatiya Janata Party General Secretary M T Ramesh said the clemency list clearly shows that the Vijayan government supports criminals.

“We will not sit idle... We will take legal steps,” added Ramesh.

Chandrasekheran’s widow K K Rema said that she will also take legal action against this move and if the accused are let off, “I will sit in protest outside Vijayan’s residence”, said Rema.

Congress legislator Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, who was the home minister when the 11 accused were arrested in the Chandrasekheran murder case, said that he will also approach the court against the state government’s clemency list and move to let off hard core criminals and murderers.