Take advantage of regime change in Kerala: Supreme Court to petitioner

The declaration of assembly election results in five States hogged media headlines on Monday morning.

Even the Supreme Court seemed to have taken note of the election brouhaha, with the Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant remarking at one point to a petitioner to take advantage of the impending change of regime in Kerala.

In Kerala, the United Democratic Front (UDF) headed by the Congress party is on course to secure a decisive victory over the Left Democratic Front (LDF) headed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

The Court observed that a change in the political landscape was underway, as reflected in ongoing coverage of the Kerala Assembly election results.

After noting that the petitioner had also levelled allegations against certain MLAs, CJI Kant told the petitioner in lighter vein,

“You had raised some allegations against some MLAs. So now some change is happening as you can see in TV. So take benefit of changed regime.”

The Court was hearing Asif Azad, the petitioner, who appeared virtually from Dubai and alleged that he had been trapped by a drug mafia which forged cheques in his name. This allegedly led to criminal proceedings against him, resulting in a travel ban imposed by courts there.

During the hearing, the Court questioned the maintainability of the plea and the nature of relief sought in respect of actions taken by foreign authorities.

The petitioner expressed apprehension that he could be arrested if he attempted to approach authorities in Dubai, claiming that he had been labelled an illegal immigrant and subjected to physical harassment.

However, the Court said that it was not inclined to accept the plea and advised the petitioner to approach the Indian Embassy in Dubai for appropriate assistance.

"We are not inclined to accept the story as stated here. Let him approach the embassy," said the Court.

Accordingly, the Court declined to entertain the plea.

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