Congress’s Kerala lawmaker denied bail in sexual harassment case

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 7 (IANS) The Thiruvananthapuram district and sessions court on Monday denied bail to Congress legislator M. Vincent, arrested on charges of sexually harassing and stalking a 51-year-old woman.

Vincent, a first-time legislator representing the Kovalam assembly constituency in the district, was arrested on July 22 and sent to 14 days judicial custody.

A trial court had earlier denied bail to the legislator last month, after which he had approached the district court.

As in the trial court, the prosecution expressed fear that if Vincent was given bail, he could harm the victim as he was an influential politician.

This is the first time a legislator in Kerala has been arrested for sexual harassment.

Vincent and his party have accused the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist and its leaders of framing him and this issue is all set to reverberate in the assembly, whose session began on Monday.