Pallath Joseph Kurien (born 31 March 1941) is an Indian politician, a social worker and educationist. He was the Deputy Chairman of the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

, the upper house of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

, till his retirement on 30 June 2018. A leader of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

party, Kurien previously served as a Union Minister in the P. V. Narasimha Rao government and was a member of the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

for six consecutive terms from 1980 to 1999. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2005.

Early life

P. J. Kurien was born on 31 March 1941 to P. G. Joseph and Rachel Joseph at Vennikulam in Tiruvalla,

Pathanamthitta District Pathanamthitta District (), is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala. The district headquarters is in the town of Pathanamthitta. There are four municipalities in Pathanamthitta: Adoor, Pandalam, Pathanamthitta and Thiruval ...

, Kerala. He had his early education at St. Behanas High School, Vennikulam. For higher education, he attended

St. Thomas College, Kozhencherry St. Thomas College, Kozhencherry is a government-aided college in Kozhencherry, Kerala state, South India. Established in 1953, it is administered by the Mar Thoma Syrian Church. Juhanon Mar Thoma Metropolitan and K. T. Thomas, Kurumthottickal ...

, Kerala and at Government Science College,

Rewa Rewa may refer to: Places Fiji * Rewa (Fijian Communal Constituency, Fiji), a former electoral division of Fiji * Rewa Plateau, between the Kaimur and Vindhya Ranges in Madhya Pradesh * Rewa Province, Fiji * Rewa River, the widest river in Fiji ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

. He was a professor of physics at St. Thomas College, Kozhencherry, when he entered politics.

Positions held

* 1980-84 Member,

Seventh Lok Sabha List of Members of the 7th Lok Sabha, (18 January 1980 – 31 December 1984) elected December 1979 – January 1980. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India nine sitting members from Rajya Sabha were el ...

. * 1984-89 Member,

Eighth Lok Sabha The 8th Lok Sabha ran from 31 December 1984 to 27 November 1989. Politicians were elected in December 1984, taking office by the end of the month. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the bicameral Parliament of India. 9 s ...

. * 1987-89 Member, Executive, Congress Parliamentary Party .P.P.(I) Member, House Committee, Member, Committee on Public Undertakings. * 1989-91 Member,

Ninth Lok Sabha List of Members of the 9th Lok Sabha (2 December 1989 – 13 March 1991) elections in 22–26 November 1989. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India. Twelve sitting members from Rajya Sabha were electe ...

, Chief Whip, Congress Parliamentary Party, Member of the Business Advisory Committee. * 1991-96 Member, Tenth Lok Sabha. * 1991-93 Union Minister of State, Industry with additional charge of Commerce. * 1992-93 Union Minister of State, Industry,(Department of Small Scale, Agro and Rural Industries) with additional charge of Commerce. * 1994-98 Chairman, Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. * 1995-96 Union Minister of State, Non-Conventional Energy Sources. * 1996-98 Member,

Eleventh Lok Sabha General elections were held in India in April–May 1996 to elect the members of the 11th Lok Sabha. The result of the election was a hung parliament, which would see three Prime Ministers in two years and force the country back to the polls ...

, Member of the Business Advisory Committee. * 1998-99 Member,

Twelfth Lok Sabha This is the list of members of the 12th Lok Sabha, (10 March 1998 – 26 April 1999) after the 1998 Indian general election held during February–March 1998. This was the second consecutive Lok Sabha, like the 11th Lok Sabha elections that di ...

, Chief Whip, Congress Parliamentary Party, Member, Business Advisory Committee, Jan. * July 2005 Elected to Rajya Sabha * August 2012 Elected Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha

Controversy

Kurien was alleged to be an accused in the

Suryanelli rape case The Suryanelli rape case (also called the Suryanelli sex scandal) refers to a case of kidnapping and subsequent rape of a 16-year-old school girl from Suryanelli, Kerala, India, in 1996. The girl was allegedly lured with the promise of marriage o ...

, though his name was never included in the list of accused. There are four inquiries which exonerated Kurien, three inquiries were held under the Chief Ministership of

E. K. Nayanar Erambala Krishnan Nayanar (9 December 191919 May 2004) was an Indian Communist politician of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M). He served three terms as the Chief Minister of Kerala (1980–1981, 1987–1991 and 1996–2001) for ...

, who himself used the allegation against Kurien during

1996 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1996. * 1995–1996 Azerbaijani parliamentary election * 1996 Beninese presidential election * 1996 Comorian presidential election * 1996 New Zealand general election * 1996 Nicaraguan general electio ...

, and was also a respondent in the defamation case filed by Kurien. During these three inquiries, Kurien was only an opposition MP; Congress Party being out of power both at the Centre and in Kerala. Kurien has maintained his innocence and police investigations into the case have also deemed him innocent. There are speculations such as the alleged controversy against Kurien is politically motivated and his political power even led to the exoneration. Sessions Judge Abraham Mathew in his order held that the victim's plea for inclusion of Kurien in the sex scandal case was not maintainable.

References

* http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/suryanelli-victims-plea-against-kurien-dismissed/article4863280.ece * http://zeenews.india.com/news/kerala/suryanelli-sex-scandal-breather-for-pj-kurien-as-convict-retracts-claim_851672.html

External links

Profile on Rajya Sabha website

, - , - , - {{10th LS members from Kerala 1941 births India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1984–1989 India MPs 1989–1991 India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 Indian National Congress politicians from Kerala Living people Lok Sabha members from Kerala People from Pathanamthitta district Rajya Sabha members from Kerala Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Indian National Congress (U) politicians