Kerala HC gives interim protection from arrest to Rahul Mamkootathil in rape case
Kochi (PTI): The Kerala High Court on Saturday gave interim protection from arrest to expelled Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil in a case of rape and forced abortion against him.
Justice K Babu said that it will hear Mamkootathil's anticipatory bail plea on December 15 and till then he should not be arrested.
"Petitioner shall not be arrested during the pendency. Post on December 15, 2025," the court said.
Advocate S Rajeev, appearing for the expelled Congress MLA confirmed the order.
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However, Mamkootathil is accused in a second case of sexual assault.
A sessions court in Thiruvananthapuram had on Thursday rejected his plea for anticipatory bail in the first case of rape and forced abortion registered against him last week.
A second rape case was lodged against him on Wednesday based on the complaint of a second woman, a resident of Bengaluru.
Mamkootathil, who has been absconding since the registration of the first rape case against him, has claimed in his plea in the High Court that he was innocent and his custodial interrogation was not required.
He has also contended that the relationship between him and the first complainant was consensual and when it became strained, a complaint was lodged against him.
The MLA has further claimed that the woman was married, but separated from her husband, and in order to "save her own skin" she disowned their relationship.
In his plea, Mamkootathil has said that he was prepared to explain each and every circumstance of the offences alleged against him and will also cooperate with the probe if he would get an opportunity to appear before the investigating officer without any fear of arrest.
He has also alleged that there is an attempt by the investigation agency to "mislead the facts" and he has got ample documents to establish the same.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
