Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan to meet PM Modi in Delhi tomorrow
Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 26: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter's residence in New Delhi on Tuesday, official sources said here on Monday.
The meeting is being held at a time when Vijayan's government is trying to find a way to address the issue of eco-sensitive zones (ESZ) around the protected forest areas in the southern state.
Sources in the Chief Minister's Office here said that the ESZ issue is likely to be discussed during the meeting between Vijayan and Modi as it has caused widespread protests by people living near the protected forest areas.
The delay in getting the Central government's clearance for the semi-high speed rail project SilverLine connecting Kasaragod in the north to Thiruvananthapuram in the south, and the financial crisis that has gripped the state during the time of COVID-19 pandemic are also likely to figure in the meeting.
The state government has blamed the occurrences of natural disasters and pandemic, distorted policies of the Centre, the implementation of the GST without much contemplation, delayed distribution of GST compensation and imposition of cuts in the borrowing limit of the state by the Union government for the economic crisis.
The Chief Minister will be accompanied by Chief Secretary V P Joy for the meeting, the sources said.
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Commenting on woman's body structure amounts to sexual harassment: Kerala HC
Kochi (PTI): The Kerala High Court has held that a comment on a woman's "body structure" is a sexually coloured remark which would constitute penal offence of sexual harassment.
The ruling by Justice A Badharudeen came while dismissing a former Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) employee's plea to quash the sexual harassment case against him filed by a woman staffer of the same organisation.
The woman had alleged that the accused used vulgar language against her from 2013 onwards and then in 2016-17 began sending objectionable messages and voice calls.
Despite complaints against him to the KSEB and the police, he continued sending her objectionable messages, she had claimed.
Following her complaints, the accused was booked for the offences under sections 354A (sexual harassment) and 509 (insulting modesty of a woman) of the IPC and section 120(o) (causing nuisance through any means of communication by undesirable call, letter, writing, message) of the Kerala Police Act.
Seeking to quash the case, the accused claimed that mere reference that a person has a nice body structure could not be attributed to sexually coloured remarks within the ambit of section 354A and 509 of the IPC and section 120(o) of the Kerala Police Act.
The prosecution and the woman, on the other hand, contended that the calls and messages of the accused carried sexually coloured remarks intended to harass her and outrage her modesty.
Agreeing with the prosecution's contentions, the Kerala High Court court said that prima facie, the ingredients to attract the offences under sections 354A and 509 of IPC and section 120 (o) of the Kerala Police Act "are made out".
"Having noticed the facts of the case, it is discernible that the prosecution case is specifically made out, prima facie, to attract the offences alleged to be committed. In the result, this Criminal Miscellaneous Case stands dismissed. Interim order, already granted, shall stand vacated," the court said in its January 6 order.
