Daijiworld Media Network - Pathanamthitta

Pathanamthitta, Jan 28: A Kerala court on Wednesday granted bail to expelled Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil in the third sexual assault case registered against him, in which he was arrested earlier this month.

The bail was granted by the Pathanamthitta District Sessions Court, which was hearing an appeal filed by the MLA after a judicial magistrate’s court had earlier denied him relief. The magistrate court had cited the seriousness of the allegations and noted that the accused had “similar antecedents”.

The third case was registered under Sections 376 (rape) and 506(1) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), based on a complaint filed by a woman from Kottayam district on January 8.

Mamkootathil, a Palakkad MLA, was arrested in connection with the case on January 11 in Palakkad.

In the earlier two sexual assault cases registered against him on complaints from two different women, the Kerala High Court and a sessions court in Thiruvananthapuram had granted him protection from arrest.