The Kerala High Court had ordered the imprisonment of Jayarajan for making derogatory remarks against the judiciary and judges who had banned roadside meetings and processions. Jayarajan had moved the apex court challenging the Kerala HC order and seeking bail.

While granting bail, the Supreme Court assailed the HC for sending Jayarajan straight to jail refusing him time to move an appeal against the sentence before the apex court. This, the apex court averred, was a denial of Jayarajan’s basic right to appeal, and against natural justice.

The SC also disapproved the HC for using terms like “worm” and “reptile” in its judgment. The role of the court was over once in had pronounced judgment. But the High Court overstepped its limits when it engaged a lawyer to take up the case in the apex court. This was unheard of in judicial history. The lawyer had also tried to mislead the apex court by making false allegations against the CPI(M)’s peaceful protest before the Kerala High Court last week.

The SC order has vindicated the CPI(M)’s stand that the High Court judges had allowed their personal prejudices to influence their order. It has also given a big boost the image of the CPI(M) as a party that is not afraid of taking up popular causes.

The upshot of it all is that the CPI(M)’s campaign for restoring the right to hold roadside meetings has received a fresh impetus. In his speeches after being released, Jayarajan has made it clear that the party would continue to agitate for restoration of this right, which he said had been won after years and years of protracted trade union struggles. In a democracy, Jayarajan and other CPI(M) leaders said, the people are the ultimate judges and any move which denies them their basic rights would be resisted in a peaceful manner.

The Kerala CPI(M) has also put the Congress on the defensive by asking the party-led government in Kerala to come out with an ordinance allowing to roadside meetings.

Jayarajan reminded Chief Minister Oommen Chandy that Mahatma Gandhi himself had asked the people to resist the British order banning roadside meetings. And Congressmen had participated in large numbers in that struggle. If Chandy claims himself to be a real follower of Gandhiji, he should, Jayarajan added, not further delay the promulgation of an ordinance upholding the people’s right to hold roadside meetings and demonstrations. (IPA)