Judicial probe against Joseph a non-starter

Even as an RTI application revealed that a probe by IG B Sandhya had indicted former Kerala PWD minister P J Joseph prima facie guilty of outraging the modesty

Even as an RTI application revealed that a probe by IG B Sandhya had indicted former Kerala PWD minister P J Joseph prima facie guilty of outraging the modesty of a woman passenger on board a Chennai-Kochi flight last August, the judicial probe ordered by the Government into the allegations remains a non-starter.

It was on September 8, 2006, after IG B Sandhya, who had been asked by the CM to probe the incident, submitted her inquiry report that the Cabinet decided to order a judicial probe into the allegation against Joseph. But 10 months on, neither has the Commission been appointed nor its terms of reference has been decided.

The state Government had written to the High Court registrar in September seeking the service of a sitting judge for the probe. However, the request was turned down stating shortage of judges. Announcing the decision to go for a judicial probe, CM Achuthanandan had said that if a sitting judge was not available, a retired judge would be appointed.

A senior Home Department official said the judicial probe was not initiated as the Chennai police were already conducting a probe.

On Monday, the state Government handed over a copy of the probe report to advocate D B Binu, who had filed a petition in the Kerala High Court complaining that despite seeking a copy of the report through an application under the RTI Act, the Government had ignored his request. The report said that from the statements of the victim, Joseph, various witnesses and from physical examination of the scene, prima facie conclusion could be reached that the former Minister had 8220;touched8221; the woman 8220;in a manner that outraged her modesty8221;.

Reacting to the report, Joseph, who was forced to resign after the incident came to light, said the allegations against him were 8216;baseless8217; and that the report does not contain his version of the incident. Addressing a news conference on Tuesday, he claimed the IG8217;s report had clearly stated that some top persons of the Congress and certain other parties were involved in a conspiracy to malign him.