A trial court here on Monday decreed that the 11 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activists convicted of murdering Communist Party of India (Marxist) member V. Vishnu in 2008 shall serve two terms of life imprisonment with hard labour.
T. K. Minimol, presiding judge, slapped a penalty of Rs.55,000 on each of the convicts and pronounced that they need to serve their sentences only concurrently.
Her judgement was widely interpreted as a nuanced critique of the nihilistic culture of political violence that has apparently gripped Kerala.
The court found that Vishnu’s murder was yet another instance of “well-planned and cold-blooded” political score settling. “The number of political murders is increasing day by day. The promotion of political violence also continues,” Ms. Minimol said.
The Constitution guaranteed citizens the right to associate and express themselves politically. Vishnu’s murder was an “interference with that right”. The crime has shocked the collective consciousness of society. However, the felony was not an exceptional or rarest of the rare one to warrant capital punishment.
The judge said she saw a possibility that the convicts could reform given their young age. “They are not a menace to society and have no track record as criminals or any previous convictions. They cannot be viewed as hardcore criminals far beyond the scope of any correction,” she said.
The judge noted that three of the convicts were unmarried. The others had aged parents and families with toddlers to care for.
“The court has to consider the cries of the families of the convicts as it has weighed the loss of the family of the victim. Hence, the convicts will not be deprived of their life, but given a chance to reform”, the judge said.
KPCC (I) president V. M. Sudheeran hailed the verdict as a strong warning against the spiral of political killings and violent reprisal attacks that has dominated the State’s political narrative for long.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said the judgement was a comment on the path of political violence pursued by the BJP and the CPM. Both the parties were yet to respond to the judgement.
Sajan Prasad prosecuted the case. DySP Raghunath and Sub-Inspector C. Mohanan charge-sheeted it.
