Kerala’s political history is replete with timeless rivalries, gruesome violence, and the unending cycle of ideological killings. Violence remains a recurring theme here with many contributing factors.
The encouragement extended by political parties is a major facilitator. The tardy criminal justice system is another. Take, for instance, the 2005 murder of DYFI activist Rijith in Kannur’s Kannapuram.
After nearly 20 years, a Thalassery court recently found nine BJP-RSS workers guilty and imprisoned them for life. Similarly, it took almost six years and multiple investigative agencies to punish those involved in the killing of two young Congress workers at Periya in Kasaragod in 2019. Among the accused, a CBI court recently convicted in Kochi included a former CPM legislator and several party leaders.
Many similar cases are awaiting conclusion and are at various stages of investigation or trial. One such is the killing of young student Abhimanyu, allegedly by a Campus Front of India gang at Maharaja’s College in Ernakulam in July 2018, as part of a tussle with the CPM-affiliated SFI.
Abhimanyu’s mother recently petitioned the Kerala High Court to expedite the trial, saying that the case was still in the preliminary hearing stage and charges have not been framed against the accused yet.
She said that despite deferring the hearing multiple times to facilitate the appearance of the accused, who are out on bail, they mostly chose to skip the hearing.
While abuse of the judicial process is one reason for the delays, shoddy or biased investigation is another. In the Periya twin murder, for example, the verdict highlighted how the state-controlled crime branch, which initially probed the case before the CBI took it over, failed to record the statements of several key witnesses and omitted some CPM leaders.
The long delays in ensuring justice for victims of political violence expose the holes in our investigative and judicial processes and the way the perpetrators can evade punishment with generous help from political patrons.
Punishment ceases to be a deterrent when it is not dispensed in time. While fair investigation and trial are essential, there is also a need to expedite the whole process so that the punishment is awarded quickly and can serve as a strong message against the culture of political killings.