2015 Kerala Assembly Ruckus: High Court Quashes Criminal Case Against Former Congress MLA A.T. George

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday (August 18) quashed the criminal proceedings against former Congress MLA A.T. George in the 2015 Kerala Legislative Assembly Ruckus case. [2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 450]

The brawl happened on March 13, 2015 when the LDF legislators staged a protest to prevent the then Finance Minister, late K.M. Mani, from presenting the budget and sought his resignation amid bar bribery allegations.

Justice C.S. Dias noted that a coordinate Bench had already quashed the proceedings against the other accused in the case, including Congress MLAs M.A. Vaheed [1st accued], Dominic Presentation, and K. Sivadasan Nair.

Further, the Court was of view that the allegations made against George do not satisfy the ingredients of the offences alleged against him. Thus, it went on to quash the case and observed:

"This Court has quashed the proceedings against the 1st accused on the specific finding that the offences are not attracted against him. More importantly, an independent examination of the allegations against the petitioner leads to the same result: the specific acts attributed to him do not satisfy the ingredients of Sections 341 or 354 of the IPC. The continuation of the proceedings against the petitioner, therefore, cannot be sustained merely because an allegation of an assault has been made when no corresponding offence has been charged or made out. It is also to be noted that the learned Magistrate deleted the offence under Section 509 IPC while framing the charge, being satisfied that the said offence is not attracted."

The case arose from a private complaint made by former LDF MLA K.K. Lathika alleging that Vaheed restrained her, touched her inappropriately and attempted to push her down to the floor. George was alleged to have hit her on her back, below the neck, with his elbow. It was further alleged that they obstructed her free movement inside the Assembly Hall, outraged and insulted her modesty.

The offences alleged were those punishable under Sections 341 [Punishment for wrongful restraint], 354 [Assault of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty] and 509 [Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman] and Section 34 [Common intention] of the Indian Penal Code.

The proceedings against the others were quashed after noting that their intent was to fulfil a constitutional duty to ensure that the ex-Finance Minister could present the budget, and not to commit the offences alleged.

Seeking parity with Vaheed, George preferred the present petition. It was contended that the complaint was politically motivated and the allegations do not make out the offences alleged.

After hearing the parties, the Court was of the view that the case can be quashed. It, however, added:

"This Court is not quashing the proceedings on an appreciation of the truth or falsity of the allegation, but because the allegation, even if accepted as true, does not constitute the offences charged...Quite apart from parity, the allegations specifically and substantively attributed to the petitioner, even if accepted in their entirety, do not constitute the offences charged against him; nor is there a sufficient factual foundation in the complaint to attract Section 34 IPC."

Thus, it allowed the plea and quashed the complaint as well as all further proceedings.

Case No: Crl.MC No. 5143 of 2025

Case Title: A.T. George v. State of Kerala and Anr.

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 450

Counsel for the petitioner: Enoch David Simon Joel, S.Sreedev, Rony Jose, Leo Lukose, Karol Mathews Sebastian Alencherry, Derick Mathai Saji, Karan Scaria Abraham, Ittoop Joy Thattil

Counsel for the respondents: M. Rajagopalan Nair, G. Biju, S. Jayaprakash (Madavoor), V.A. Vinod, Ambadi Murali, Grashious Kuriakose (Sr.), T. Asaf Ali – Director General of Prosecution

Click to Read/Download Order