In 2022, it was alleged that Antony Raju, a former minister in Kerala, was involved in evidence tampering in an ongoing drug seizure case that is said to have taken place in 1990. A bench comprising Justices C.T. Ravikumar and Sanjay Karol ordered that the trial court finish the processes within a year, stressing that justice needed to be done as early as practicable.
In 1990, one Australian national was apprehended at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport with 61.5 grams of hand hashish, supposedly concealed in his underwear. At the time, Raju was practicing as a lawyer to represent the accused.
The prosecution produced the innerwear as material evidence during the trial. However, the court allowed for the return of the accused’s personal effects, including, most importantly, the underwear. Raju collected this and returned it four months later.
The Sessions Court convicted him under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. However, the high court acquitted him in 1993 on appeal, noting that the accused’s innerwear was too small to be his, raising suspicions of evidence tampering.
When a vigilance inquiry was conducted, an FIR was lodged against Raju and a court clerk in 1994. In 2006, a charge sheet was produced accusing them of committing offenses under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 193 (false evidence), and 217 (public servant disobeying direction of law) of the Indian Penal Code.
Legal Proceedings and Supreme Court’s Decision
It was precisely because the trial proceedings took too long that Raju then moved the Kerala High Court and prayed for the quashing of proceedings as per the Code of Criminal Procedure.
In March 2023, the High Court quashed the present proceeding on technical grounds but allowed fresh prosecution under section 195(1)(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Subsequently, the Thiruvananthapuram trial court reopened the case.
Raju challenged the decision of the single judge in the Supreme Court, where he argued the procedural lapses. However, the Supreme Court dismissed the plea, reinstating the cognizance taken by the Chief Judicial Magistrate on the chargesheet. Raju was directed to appear before the trial judge on December 20, 2024, and given the delayed approach to the case, the trial should be completed in one year.
Implications and Reactions
Antony Raju, the leader of Janadhipathya Kerala Congress, a coalition partner of the ruling Left Democratic Front and the Minister for Road Transport, Motor Vehicles, and Water Transport of Kerala till December 2023, the order of the Supreme Court restoring proceedings against Antony Raju seemingly carries severe political and legal implications, capable of either killing Raju’s political career or making his political life cut out as part of the political dynamics in the state.
According to experts in law, this directive from the Supreme Court reflects the judiciary’s commitment to dealing with delays in the justice system, particularly regarding politically exposed people. It brought about expeditious justice by formulating a time frame before which the trial must be completed.
The reopening of the criminal proceedings against Antony Raju is a historic message in a case that has been ongoing for over thirty years. Given how it can affect the political fabric and public discussion on judicial expediency in India, the trial will receive increased attention as cases progress.
