The Kerala High Court stated that the first information reports registered against expelled Congress leader and Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil in two other sexual assault cases against him cannot be treated as criminal antecedents in the rape and forced miscarriage case it was hearing on Wednesday, reported Live Law.

Justice Kauser Edappagath also reserved the verdict on Mamkootathil’s petition for anticipatory bail.

The prosecution contended that two other FIRs have been registered against the MLA, which constitute criminal antecedents.

However, the judge noted that all three cases were in the FIR stage, adding that no final report had been filed in any of them.

“All are under investigation,” Live Law quoted Edappagath as saying. “Law of antecedents is that mere registration of complaint is not sufficient. At least final report should be there...Is there a single FIR which is registered prior to this?...Not a technicality…We will take this case alone.”

The prosecution also argued that the cases against Mamkootathil showed a pattern of intimidation and similar offences against multiple women, Bar and Bench reported. This was not just a case where a consensual relationship turned sour, the judge was told.

In response, the judge said: “Even consensual relationship with a married spouse is permitted under law then what is wrong in an unmarried man having consensual sexual relationship with so many persons. What is wrong and because of that how can this bail be rejected.”

The MLA faces three cases of rape. He has been granted bail in the other two cases.

While a sessions court in Thiruvananthapuram allowed the anticipatory bail petition of the expelled Congress leader in one of the cases on December 10, he was granted relief by another sessions court in Pathanamthitta district earlier on Wednesday in the third case against him.

Mamkootathil was arrested on January 11 in Palakkad after the complaint was filed in the third case.

The matter before the High Court on Wednesday pertained to a complaint submitted directly to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on November 27 by a woman and her family, accusing the Palakkad MLA of rape, pregnancy through sexual assault and forced abortion, Bar and Bench reported.

She claimed that Mamkootathil recorded their intimate videos without her consent, adding that he also threatened to circulate them if she did not comply with his demands.

A Thiruvananthapuram sessions court had denied him bail in the matter in December. The expelled Congress leader subsequently moved the High Court and got a stay on his arrest on December 6.

In his petition for anticipatory bail, Mamkootathil admitted to having a physical relationship with the complainant but claimed that it was entirely consensual, Bar and Bench reported.

However, the woman claimed that the Palakkad MLA repeatedly attempted to mislead the High Court by presenting distorted versions of the event.

She alleged that the abuse she suffered was not a one-time incident but part of a systematic pattern of violence and coercion, adding that Mamkootathil repeatedly subjected her to sexual violence, physical abuse and psychological intimidation.

In August, the Congress suspended Mamkootathil from its primary membership following multiple allegations from women of misconduct. Following this, he resigned from his post as the Kerala Youth Congress chief.

He was later expelled from the party but continues to serve as the MLA from Palakkad.