Kochi:
Taking a strong view of offensive remarks made against judges and the judiciary by CPM leader M V Jayarajan, the Kerala High Court today sentenced him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court.
The division bench held that by making the offending speech at Kannur last year, Jayarajan was ridiculing in public performance of two high court judges and making "scurrilous, offensive, vicious and malicious onslaught on the higher judiciary that too beyond controllable limits."
The bench comprising justices V Ram Kumar and P Q Barkat Ali held Jayarajan, a former MLA from Kannur, guilty under Section 12 of the Contempt of Court Act and noted during the trial, he had gone to the press justifying his act, including using the word 'shumban' (a derogatory term which in local parlance means a useless person) against the judges.
Jayarajan's plea to suspend the sentence to enable him to file appeal in the Supreme Court was turned down by the court.
Immediately after the order was passed, police personnel arrived at the court and took him to Thiruvananthapuram Central Jail.
CPI(M) and DYFI activists, present near the court, raised slogans hailing Jayarajan.
Jayarajan has been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 2000 and in case of default, he will have to undergo an extra month's imprisonment.