Thiruvananthapuram Sessions Court Sends Rahul Eeshwar To Police Custody Till Thursday Morning

Thiruvananthapuram: The District Sessions Court on Wednesday sent popular TV commentator and ‘men’s rights’ activist Rahul Easwar to police custody till Thursday morning. The court, however, was not willing to consider the bail application moved by the accused. According to reports, the court will consider his application on Thursday morning.

Easwar was charged under non-bailable sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), under Section 72 (for disclosing the identity of the victim) and Section 79 (for outraging the modesty of a woman) of the law. He was arrested for disclosing the identity of the woman who had lodged the sexual exploitation complaint against former Congress MLA Rahul Mamkoottathil, during a televised debate.

Meanwhile, the District Sessions Court listed the pre-arrest bail plea filed by KPCC general secretary Sandeep Warrior for Monday. Reports indicate that Warrior also faces similar charges as Easwar and has been in jail for the last 11 days.

The Thiruvananthapuram police had recently picked up Easwar from his residence in Powdikonam during which investigators also seized his laptop and electronic devices. According to the police, the action followed evidence suggesting that Easwar had violated laws protecting the anonymity of sexual-assault survivors, a charge he and his family denied.

While being taken into custody, Easwar called his arrest “a freedom struggle for men” and claimed that the authorities had ignored the Supreme Court’s Arnesh Kumar guidelines on arrests. 

“Police are claiming they served me notice, but no such notice was ever given. This is a blatant disregard of the Supreme Court verdict,” he said, adding that he would “continue speaking for Rahul Mamkoottathil”.

Earlier last week, Easwar's wife, Deepa had criticised the police action against him and claimed that the charges against him were inconsistent and mishandled.

"It's very unfair because the police have been dilly-dallying. Their first allegation against him was that he revealed the identity of the victim. And then they realised that it was not true. Then they charged a non-bailable offence that it was a sexually coloured remark. But they didn't know what exactly a sexually colored remark is," Deepa said speaking to the media.

"The worst thing is that they didn't even give us a notice. They just came in one fine evening and told him to come along. Rahul (Easwar) didn't say he won't come along or anything. I went with him. Who cooperates like that for a notice, but we cooperated that much. We even handed over the laptop because it's a laptop," she said, adding, “They want to shut him (Easwar) off to take the focus off other things. There is a Sabarimala theft issue and a lot of other things happening; the elections are coming up, so they just want to shut him off.”

Meanwhile, the Principal Sessions Court in Thiruvananthapuram granted pre-arrest bail to Mamkoottathil in the case registered against him based on the complaint of a Bengaluru based woman. According to reports, the court has also directed him to cooperate with the investigation. The Palakkad MLA has been absconding since November 28 ever since another woman booked a complaint against him in which she accused Mamkoottathil of raping and impregnating her.

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