'State Government Withdrew My Security Because I Criticised It': Retd Kerala High Court Judge

A retired Kerala High Court judge, on Sunday, December 8, alleged that the Kerala government withdrew his security cover because he had opined against the government.

Justice B Kemal Pasha said that the government on Saturday withdrew four armed police guards deputed for his security. The former judge had on several occasions spoken against the CPM-led Left Democratic Front(LDF) government’s ‘failure’ in handling various cases.

“I received an intimation about the withdrawal of security from the Special Branch two days ago. Now I realise that the police could have decided to withdraw the security as I spoke against the police and the government a couple of times recently,” Pasha was quoted in The News Minute.

“First was when the accused in the Walayar rape case were acquitted, I flayed the police for the laxity in their investigation. Secondly, I criticised the force when four suspected Maoists were killed in Agaly forest in Palakkad. I also called a minister’s statement to conduct raids in movie sets as foolishness. All these may have provoked them,” he added.

The former judge also said that the police security which was first provided for him in 1996 when he became a judge in the district court was ‘abruptly’ withdrawn by the police.

The move comes at a time when the former judge is facing threats from Islamic States terror operatives in Kerala. The judge was given armed police protection two years ago after the police found him as the target of Islamic State as he was the judge hearing the case on SIMI terror training camp at Kanakamala.

He further added that he has a lot of enemies due to the kind of cases that he handled when he was a judge. “My judgements, in several cases, had irked many. I did not deliberately go behind sensational cases, but they came during the time I was a judge. Hence, I have a lot of enemies,” he was quoted by the media.

“It was unforeseen. The government might have thought that I am not a person who requires any security,” Pasha was quoted by ANI. He further added that he would continue to protest the government’s ‘wrong policies’.

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