Kerala HC issues notices to Left govt, police over tribal’s lynching

: The Kerala high court on Wednesday issued notices to the state government and police in the lynching of a tribal youth last week, taking suo motu notice of the murder that triggered outrage.

The court accepted a letter written by the state legal services authority chairman justice K Surendra Mohan and treated it as a writ.

Chief justice Antony Dominic, while appointing an amicus curie, said it was a serious issue that needed to be probed and sought replies from the government and police.

“What makes the issue grave is that the person who was lynched was mentally unstable,” Mohan said.

On February 22, Madhu, 27, was beaten to death by a mob in Palakkad district’s Attapadi on suspicion of stealing food.

Instead of helping a bleeding Madhu, people made and shared videos and took pictures with him. One of the pictures had a man holding a stick questioning the tribal and another was a selfie a man had taken with Madhu, who suffered mental illness.

The sheer callousness had forced CM Pinarayi Vijayan to say a civilised society couldn’t tolerate such heinous acts.

The incident was a shame for a state that boasted of 100% literacy, Justice Mohan said. The fact that the man was forced to steal food showed that the welfare programmes being run in tribal areas were not reaching the needy, he said.

“Necessary changes should be made in welfare schemes and ensure that they reach real beneficiaries,” said the letter, calling for a better enforcement of laws enacted to protects weaker sections.

Meanwhile, the Congress-led UDF Opposition members attacked the government over Madhu’s lynching and said the law and order situation in the state had deteriorated under the Left government Replying to a notice for an adjournment motion, chief minister Vijayan said 16 people have been arrested in the case.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM