Retaliatory political murders are nothing new in Kannur as killer gangs of political parties, particularly the CPI(M) and the Sangh Parivar, have been indulging in such attacks for the past several decades.
But what has now raised the eyebrows of legal and political circles here is the BJP State leadership’s demand that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) be imposed in the district.
The demand has been made in the wake of the murder of an RSS worker near Payyannur here on May 12. The demand was reportedly raised in a petition submitted to Governor P. Sathasivam by BJP MLA O. Rajagopal. It is seen as a reversal of the party’s position in the past when attempts were made to invoke anti-terror laws against accused involved in retaliatory political murders here.
“Mr. Rajagopal’s demand harks back to the stiff opposition of the BJP as also the CPI(M) to invoke the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) in political murder cases in the district in the past when the situation was no less grim,” said former State Director General of Prosecutions T. Asif Ali.
The 1994 case
The move initiated by the then United Democratic Front government headed by the late K. Karunakaran in 1994 to invoke TADA against accused in political murder cases had to be dropped because of the stiff opposition from the CPI(M) and the BJP, said Mr. Ali who was practising at the District and Sessions Court at Thalassery at that time.
That move was made in the aftermath of the brutal murder of Students Federation of India leader K.V. Sudheesh in front of his parents at his house at Thokkilangadi near Koothuparamba in January 1994. At that time a special designated TADA court was established at Thalassery and a judge was nominated.
When contacted, senior BJP leader and former party State president C.K. Padmanabhan told The Hindu that the party had opposed the imposition of TADA at the time because of the concern that the law was being misused to target political rivals by the then State government. He, however, sounded sceptical about the BJP leadership’s demand for imposition of AFSPA in Kannur now. “I do not think that invocation of the law meant to tackle insurgency would be practical in areas hit by political violence,” he said adding that stringent application of existing rules in the Criminal Procedure Code were enough to put an end to political violence.
TADA, which was introduced in the backdrop of the Punjab insurgency, was then projected as an effective way to end political murders in Kannur. The demand for invocation of TADA was again raised at a peace meeting convened here in the wake of the attack on CPI(M) leader P. Jayarajan in August 1999. It was again met with opposition from the BJP and the CPI(M) leaders who attended the meeting, recalled Mr. Ali who was then present at the meeting.
