Ahead of the assembly elections in the state, the CPI(M)-led government in Kerala on Wednesday decided to withdraw cases registered in connection with protests against entry of young women at the Sabarimala shrine and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
The Cabinet decided to withdraw all “cases of not serious criminal nature’’ registered related to the Sabarimala and anti-CAA protests, said an official communication.
Police had registered an estimated 17,000 cases, arraigning around 68,000 people from various Hindu outfits as accused, in connection with the Sabarimala protests in 2018 following a Supreme Court verdict allowing entry of young women to the hill shrine. In connection with the anti-CAA protests of 2019, around 530 cases were registered from January to March, 2020. The anti-CAA protests have people from various political and Muslims outfits as accused with the Social Democratic Party of India, the political wing of Popular Front of India, figuring in 170-odd cases.
Although the opposition Congress and BJP have placed the Sabarimala issue on their poll plank, the CPI (M) has side-lined the emerging debate on the issue with party state secretary A Vijayaraghavan last week saying that Sabarimala was not an issue in the upcoming polls. However, the CPI (M) has sensed that the issue, which contributed to the LDF’s rout in the Lok Sabha elections of 2019, would haunt it again impacting the prospects of the ruling front in the assembly polls.