Pay for damage to public property to get bail: Court

The court said if at the time of deciding the case it was proved that the accused was innocent, the money deposited by him at the time of seeking bail would be returned.
Justice K.T. Sankaran said this while disposing off a petition urging a review of the court's earlier judgement on the same lines.

The court said that, of late, there had been a spurt in destruction of public property and hence he had decided to stick to the earlier judgment.

The Congress-led state government earlier told the court that it was not opposed to the earlier judgment because there was an apex court ruling to this effect.

Last month, the state witnessed a state-wide shutdown called by the Left parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party to protest the hike in petrol prices.

The capital witnessed a similar shutdown called by the Left parties three days before the statewide shutdown.

In both the shutdowns, numerous state-owned transport buses were stoned and a few government vehicles were also attacked by the protesters.

Early this month, activists of the student wing of the Left parties went on the rampage and damaged state-owned buses and government vehicles.

Labour and Rehabilitation Minister Shibhu Baby John who requested the state government last month to set up a special court for speedy trial of cases related to destruction of public property welcomed the court order.

"This is certainly a welcome judgment and this is going to provide a fillip to our work to set up a special court to try destruction of public property cases," said John.

Communist Party of India-Marxist Lok Sabha member M.B. Rajesh termed the judgment draconian.

"We wish that the court will seriously review this judgment because it is not fair to collect a deposit to the amount equivalent to the loss incurred," said Rajesh.