Kerala HC shields CPI(M) leader from coercive action in defamation case

The Kerala High Court has directed the State government not to take coercive steps against K.S. Arunkumar, a lawyer and Ernakulam district secretariat member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who faces allegations of defaming Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala through a social media post about his recent visit to the United States.

Justice C.S. Dias, hearing the matter, also ordered that Mr. Arunkumar be given notice before any questioning in connection with the inquiry into offences registered under the Kerala Police Act, 2011.

The court was acting on a petition filed by Mr. Arunkumar seeking to quash the first information report registered against him and all related proceedings. The FIR, lodged by the Thiruvananthapuram City cyber crime police station, charges him with provocation of riots and criminal defamation under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, as well as harassment under the Kerala Police Act.

The case stems from a complaint by B.S. Subija, a United Democratic Front member, who alleged that Mr. Arunkumar shared defamatory and inciting posts targeting the Home Minister.

In his petition, Mr. Arunkumar contended that his post amounted to a political observation comparing the media coverage that political leaders receive for foreign trips across different tenures. He argued that even if the allegations were accepted at face value, they did not constitute any of the offences listed in the FIR.

The registration of the case had drawn criticism from Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan, who, in a Facebook post, accused the government of adopting an authoritarian approach to criticism. He said Mr. Arunkumar was raising pertinent questions about the Home Minister's trip and that the case reflected the government's extreme intolerance towards criticism.