Demonstrating that the shocking defeat it suffered in the May 28 Assembly by-election in Chengannur has not diminished its fighting spirit, Kerala’s Congress-led Opposition UDF unleashed a storm of protest in the Assembly and disrupted proceedings on Monday, the very first day of the monsoon session, demanding a CBI probe into the recent incident of the alleged honour killing of a 26-year-old man.
Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan was forced to rush through business and announce adjournment within three hours of the start of the session after slogan-shouting UDF members disrupted proceedings by charging into the well of the House. They alleged that there were serious lapses from the part of the Home Department and the police in the case of the honour killing.
Trouble started in the House after Congress legislator Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, who moved notice for an adjournment motion over the issue, alleged that those behind the honour killing had the active connivance of the Government and the police. He demanded a discussion on the alleged situation where the police themselves were becoming law-breakers.
In an indirect bid to hold the ruling CPI(M) responsible for the honour killing, Thiruvanchoor, a former Home minister, said that two of the accused in the case of the honour killing of the youth, Kevin P Joseph of SH Mount, Kottayam, were members of the party’s youth wing, DYFI. He accused the Government of supporting the culprits and the victim’s kin at the same time.
Kevin, who married Neenu Chacko (20) of Thenmala, Kollam at the end of a three-year-long love affair on May 24, was abducted from a relative’s house by a gang in the wee hours of May 27 and his body was found in a small river near Thenmala on May 28. Economically backward Kevin was a Dalit Christian whereas Neenu belonged to a well-to-do Roman Catholic family.
The police have already arrested all the 14 accused including Neenu’s father Chacko and brother Shanu. When Neenu and Kevin’s relatives had reached the Gandhi Nagar Police Station at Kottayam on May 27 to complain about his abduction, the Sub-Inspector there had told them they could do nothing as they were busy with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s security.
It has now been established that an Assistant Sub-Inspector and the driver of the police station had known about the plan of Neenu’s relatives to kidnap him and had provided them with all necessary assistance. Four policemen have already been suspended from service over the incident and the ASI and the police driver have been arrested.
Supplementing Thiruvanchoor’s notice for the adjournment motion, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that the law and order system had already gone haywire in the State under the Marxist Chief Minister who was also holding the Home Portfolio. “The CBI should probe this case as there is no point in the police investigating police’s own crime,” he said.
Replying to the notice, the Chief Minister said that it was indeed an incident of honour killing and that the culprits would get severe punishment. “It has been proved in the investigation that Kevin was abducted and murdered. All the fourteen persons named as accused have been arrested. Action has been taken against the erring police officials,” Pinarayi said.
He attacked the Opposition by saying that it was trying to divert the focus of the probe by politicizing the matter. In response to Thiruvanchoor’s charge on the involvement of DYFI men, Pinarayi said, “Neenu’s father and brother are said to be Congressmen. Can we say that Congress was behind this just because of thatIJ”
This triggered instant protests from the Opposition members who disrupted the proceedings. After the Speaker announced adjournment for the day, Opposition members came out of the Assembly hall shouting slogans against the Government. Outside the Assembly, the Opposition alleged that the police’s role behind the honour killing could not be ignored.