The newly appointed honorary consul of Sri Lanka in Thiruvananthapuram, Joemon Joseph Edathala, 38, has several police cases pending against him and had to recently shut down a quarry at Mambra, near Malayattoor, following local protest.
He is currently out on station bail for trespassing into the house of KJ Paul (63), a former school teacher and standing committee chairperson of Malayattoor-Neeleeswaram panchayat and beating him up.
“His Commission of Appointment was granted on Jan 27 after verification by the Ministry of External Affair’s protocol division,” incumbent Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, Prasad Kariyawasam told TOI over phone from New Delhi. The high commissioner said he knew nothing about the newly appointed consul’s profession who runs quarry units, M-sand manufacturing, crusher units and also dabbled in the hospitality business at Angamaly.
Incidentally, the high commissioner listed the criteria for appointing an honorary consul. “The man must have an unblemished record and be an upstanding citizen. He should not have engaged in any criminal activity etc. The honorary consul will have diplomatic number plates but he will not get paid for the job. He is an Indian citizen. Joseph came with utmost recommendation from MoS HRD Shashi Tharoor’s office. In fact, he was the one who really worked hard for strengthening Sri Lanka-India ties by really pushing for us to open a consulate here,” he said.
Though Joseph initially denied having police cases, he retracted when various case numbers were cited. “These are issues that have cropped up due to my business and there is no criminal charge against me,” he said. On his connection with Sri Lanka, he said he planned to start a granite quarry in Jaffna soon. He revealed that he will open the consulate on Feb 27 and has identified a house in Sasthamangalam for that purpose, adding that as an honorary consul he will be granted immunity and certain privileges as per the Vienna convention 1963.
Tharoor did not respond to a TOI query whether he was aware of Joseph’s police records when he recommended him for the position of honorary consul. A senior official from the home department said the Kerala home department was not approached for vetting the name of Joemon Joseph for the position and neither did the chief secretary’s office clear his name.
There are many cases against Joseph - case No: 2/2010 registered by Mayalattoor forest range officer for using forest land to make way for his crusher unit. Case no: 713/2010 under the Explosives Act for hoarding explosives. The most recent case in which KJ Paul was beaten up badly for closing a quarry run by Joseph’s APJ Group, led to a hartal in Malayattoor-Neeleeswaram. “The run-off water from the quarry was dirtying Manapattu Chira lake which was visited by thousands of pilgrims who visited the Malayattoor Kurisumudi Church. He came to my house and beat me up along with his cousins,” said Paul.
The Kalady police charged him with the following sections under IPC: 451 - house trespass in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment, 323 for causing simple injuries, 294 (4) for profanity in a public place and 501 (b) criminal intimidation.
After the attack on Paul, which happened at 5.45 pm on July 30 2013, the police was reluctant to take Joseph into custody, but he was finally picked up under the direction of the then home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan at 10.30 pm and was granted bail the following morning. Joseph obtained a stay on further proceedings from the Kerala high court. - TOI
