Expelled Congress leader Rahul Mamkootathil was on Wednesday granted bail by a Kerala court in the third sexual assault case.
The expelled MLA, who was arrested in connection with the case earlier this month, was granted bail by the Pathanamthitta district court.
Principal District and Sessions Judge N Harikumar issued the bail order, Bar and Bench said.
The bail was granted after Mamkootathil appealed against a Magistrate’s Court which had earlier denied him relief, saying that the charges against him were serious, that the expelled Congress leader had “similar antecedents”.
A third case of sexual assault was registered against the Palakkad MLA under sections 376 (rape) and 506(1) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), following a complaint filed by a woman from Kottayam district on January 8.
He was arrested in Palakkad on January 11 this year in connection with a case in which a woman alleged that he sexually assaulted her in 2024.
However, the expelled MLA denied the claim and claimed that his relationship with the complainant was consensual and that he did not know that the woman was in a marital relationship.
Mamkootathil added that he ended the relationship as soon as he came to know about her marital status and claimed that the case was brought to tarnish his public image.
Earlier, Mamkootathil had obtained protection from arrest from the Kerala High Court and the Thiruvananthapuram Sessions Court in the first two sexual assault cases, which were registered on the basis of complaints by two different women.
Mamkootathila’s bail plea in the first rape case is scheduled to be heard later on Wednesday, January 28 by the Kerala High Court.
When allegations of sexual abuse against the Palakkad MLA first surfaced in August 2025, the Congress initially suspended his membership. Mamkootathil also resigned from his position as Youth Congress chief.
He was later expelled from the Congress party. However, he continues to be the MLA representing the Palakkad Assembly constituency.
