Anti-women remarks by minister 'serious', says HC

The Kerala High Court today termed as "serious" the allegation that state Power Minister M M Mani made "unsavoury" remarks against women at a recent public meeting at in Kunchithanni in Idukki.

The observation was made by a high court's vacation bench of justices P N Raveendran and P V Asha, while hearing a plea by Kerala resident George Vattukulam, who has sought a court- monitored probe into the allegations that Mani made the "sexually-loaded, anti-women statements" at a public meeting. The court asked the state counsel if the Kerala police chief was not aware of it.

The bench posed the query as the state counsel opposed Vattukulam'a plea. The bench then also directed the petitioner to produce the CD of the minister's speech and the copy of the complaint made to police in this regard.

The state counsel opposed the plea, contending that the petition was not maintainable as the petitioner ought to have approached the police or a magisterial court for a probe into the matter.

The counsel denied that the minister made any derogatory remarks against women. He added he was mentioning about media persons during his speech.