Human rights activist 'Kadala' Muhammed, known to a generation of Keralites for his resistance at the face of police brutality and his refusal to falsely testify against Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairman Abdul Nazar Madhani, passed away at the age of 79.
'Kadala' in Malayalam means peanuts. Kadala Muhammed is a name symbolic of his occupation- a street vendor selling peanuts near Kozhikode beach. Social activists remember Muhammed as a familiar face in every protest at the beach.
Muhammed, a former Naxalite was picked up by the Tamil Nadu police, framing him as a witness in the Coimbatore blast case. He had to undergo brutal torture in custody but he refused to falsely testify against Madhani.
Madhani was later acquitted of all the charges in the case in 2007, after spending nine years in jail. After his aquital, Madhani praised Muhammed's unwavering courage at the face of the police action.
“You can go to Calicut and ask for Kadala Muhammed. He was once a Naxalite. They brutally beat him in the SIG office, tossing him around like a ball. He is still alive—you can ask him yourself. I have never met him, have no connection with him, and he is not a PDP member. The police subjected him to severe torture, demanding that he confess to what they wanted. But he refused. After relentless torture, they abandoned him at the Kerala border and ordered him to leave,” Maktoob Media quoted Madhani as saying.
Remembering Muhammed as a "symbol of courage, justice and rebellion," activist Razik Raheem, who himself spent several years in jail on terrorism charges before being acquitted, wrote on 'Facebook', "Today's generation might not be familiar with the name Kadala Muhammed. He was a man who stood unflinchingly, even when subjected to brutal torture for refusing to comply with the police, despite being offered money."
"Farewell to the one who stood with the oppressed and spent his entire life fighting for justice," he added.