Joseph acquitted in misbehaviour case

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former Kerala PWD minister P J Joseph was on Monday acquitted in a case of allegedly misbehaving with a woman passenger on a Chennai-Kochi flight in 2006.

The Sriperumbudur magistrate court���s verdict to acquit Mr Joseph has opened the possibility of the Kerala Congress (J) leader making a re-entry into the V S Achuthanandan government.

T U Kuruvilla, who had replaced Mr Joseph when he quit as minister following the allegation of misbehaviour, had himself got entangled in a land scam, which led to a third leader from Kerala Congress (J), Mons Joseph, taking over as PWD minister.

Shortly after the verdict, Mons Joseph declared that he would be happy to vacate his post for P J Joseph. Mr Joseph, who decided on a pilgrimage to Velankanni, has not declared his intentions about a return to the ministry.

The allegation against Mr Joseph was that he had misbehaved with a woman passenger, Lakshmi Gopakukmar, on a Kingfisher flight from Chennai to Kochi, an allegation Mr Joseph stoutly denied. The issue acquired importance as the state government entrusted police IG B Sandhya to submit a report about the incident, which then led to the resignation of Mr Joseph.

Irrespective of whether Mr Joseph returns to the ministry, the verdict is expected to give a boost to the Kerala Congress (J), which had been hit by a series of setbacks, including the resignations of Mr Joseph and Mr Kuruvilla in quick succession.

In recent times, Kerala Congress (J) leader P C Thomas had been making unsettling comments about the manner in which the party is functioning. In response to the verdict today, Mr Thomas has suggested Mr Joseph���s return to the cabinet.

Chief minister V S Achuthanandan and Left Democratic Front convenor Vaikom Viswan said Joseph���s return had to be decided by the party and the LDF.