Surprised by the Kerala High Court’s ruling on Friday that being a Maoist is no crime, the Kerala Government has decided to challenge it at the earliest through an appeal seeking removal of the observation as the Home Department is worried that the ruling could seriously affect the police’s operations against Maoists and other extremist groups.
The single-judge Bench of Justice A Muhammad Mustaq had on Friday ruled that being a Maoist or believing in Maoism was not a crime and had asked the Government to pay Rs1,00,000 as compensation and Rs10,000 in litigation cost to petitioner Syam Balakrishnan, who had alleged torture by police after being taken into custody alleging Maoist links.
The Government has decided to file an appeal before a division Bench of the High Court against the ruling on the basis of the preliminary legal advice it has got that Justice Mustaq’s order was in violation of Section 10 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) by which being a member of a banned outfit is illegal.
The main requests of the Government in the appeal will be to remove the ruling that being a Maoist is no crime and to quash the directive to pay compensation and litigation cost to the petitioner as the police hold that they had not arrested him or tortured him but had released him after collecting information.
The Home Department fears that the verdict could affect cases of similar nature and render anti-Maoist operations in the State virtually impossible and meaningless. “We are in a Catch-22 situation. If we don’t act against Maoists we will be blamed for inaction and inefficiency. On the other hand, we get such verdicts when we act,” said a top police official.
Observing that the Government was acting against Maoists with a hunter’s mentality, the court had said that no individual could be detained just because he was a Maoist if he had not adopted the path of violence. Rights workers and pro-left intellectuals have welcomed the ruling interpreting it as a judicial attempt to safeguard individual rights.
Officials said that such verdicts could make it difficult for the police to even question pro-Maoist elements and to carry out inspections at the houses and work places of those who could be helping extremist elements. The verdict has come at a time when the Kerala Police are focusing their attention on rights activists who are allegedly helping the left extremists.
According to Syam Balakrishnan, based in Wayanad district where Maoist activities have been on the rise in the recent past, the police had taken him into custody and disrobed him for body-search. He also said that a group of 20 policemen had raided his house and taken away his mobile phones and laptop computer.
Meanwhile, the Ernakulam Additional District and Sessions Court in Kochi on Saturday left Kerala-based Maoist leader Roopesh and his wife Shyna in the custody of the State police for ten days. The Internal Security Investigations wing of the Kerala Police had sought to get them in custody for ten days.
The court, however, asked the police not to torture the duo physically or mentally. It also directed the police to inform their lawyers about the time of their interrogation. Rupesh and Shyna were arrested along with three other Maoists from Karumathamapatty near Coimbatore on May 4 in a joint operation of the Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu police forces.
The case against them is that they had helped Andhra Pradesh-based Maoist leader Mallaraja Reddy and his wife Sugana to live in hiding in Perumbavoor near Kochi in 2007 and had conspired to launch anti-national activities. Both Rupesh and Shyna have been slapped with various charges including those that come under the UAPA.