Abhaya: activist under SC scanner

The Supreme Court on Thursday made critical observations about a 41-year-old "human rights activist" who has been...

The Supreme Court on Thursday made critical observations about a 41-year-old 8220;human rights activist8221; who has been mobilising support for Sister Abhaya,and asked him to come clean about his credentials.

8220;Where do you get the money to file all these PILs? You have hired a large number of lawyers over these years. They do not come cheap. You say that you have conducted inquiries against a lot of people,now let us initiate an inquiry into you,8221; a Division Bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice B S Chauhan told Jomon Puthenpurackal,convenor of the Sister Abhaya Case Action Council. He had moved the Supreme Court,blaming Kerala High Court for calling him names such as 8220;publicity monger8221;. He alleged the High Court called him a man who 8220;spells danger8221; and who cannot be 8220;let loose among unsuspecting public with the deadly weapon of public interest litigation which will be misused by him8221;.

However,all Puthenpurackal managed to accomplish was to revive a so-far stagnant top-level police inquiry ordered by the High Court into his past and credentials. A large chunk of his 17-year-old campaign through 8220;over 100 PILs8221; deals with various aspects of the probe into the young nun8217;s alleged murder.

Reacting to the court order,Puthenpurackal said,8221;I came to the courts for justice in a public cause,but I get to be probed in the end.8221; But Justice Chauhan asked him,8221;If you are so clean,why are you afraid of an inquiry?8221;

On August 28,2008,the High Court had asked Kerala Inspector General of Police to set up a special team to inquire into his past and credentials.

An affidavit filed by the Kerala government in April 2009 in the Supreme Court,however,stated that the police inquiry against Puthenpurackal had been 8220;stopped8221;. The government offered no opinion on the character of the activist.

The SC Bench did not listen to Puthenpurackal8217;s lawyer who said an inquiry into his client8217;s motives for filing PILs was 8220;unwarranted and without cause8221;. The lawyer contended that the inquiry would only deflect the court8217;s attention from the activist8217;s attempt to point out lapses in the Abhaya probe.

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Sister Abhaya,an inmate of the Pius Xth Convent Hostel in Kottayam district of Kerala,was found dead in a well on the convent premises in 1992. The CBI probed the allegation of murder and recently filed a chargesheet accusing two priests and another nun of the crime.