Kerala: Mob Beats a Tribal Man to Death Accusing Theft; RSS-BJP Give Communal Colour

Thousands of people from Attappady Block in Kerala’s Palakkad district took to streets to protest against the murder of a 27-year-old tribal youth, A Madhu. The youth was beaten to death on Thursday evening by a group of local people at Kadukumanna in the Attappady block alleging theft.

Madhu, a mentally challenged person, was severely beaten up by a group of local people in the nearby forest area and they handed him over to the Agali police around 6.30, said police. But, the youth collapsed and died while the police was taking him to the Government Tribal Specialty Hospital at Kottathara.

A case under section 174 CrPC against unknown persons has been filed. So far, seven people have been reportedly taken into police custody and cases have been registered against two.

Meanwhile a man’s selfie with the deceased tribal youth, whose hands were tied up, has gone viral on social media platforms irking widespread anger against the mob lynching.

In Attappady, thousands of people including tribals demonstrated a protest and blocked the Anakkatti-Mannarkkad road demanding strict action against the culprits. The protesters were mobilised by the collective of tribal organizations and a human rights collective named a “Janakkeya Manushyavakasa Samithi.” Independent organisations and various mass organisations including Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist), came in support of the protesters.

“Entire Attappady, irrespective of political identity, took to streets demanding justice for the deceased tribal youth, while the RSS and BJP local leadership were trying to hijack the protest. They were trying to give a communal angle to this incident since two of accused who got arrested, so far, are from Muslim community and are merchants at the nearby town,” said one of the Human rights activists from the area while speaking to Newsclick.in on the condition of anonymity.

As it is happening everywhere in the country, BJP-RSS has brought out a communal angle to the incident. Communalizing the lynching, RSS-BJP aims to gain a political momentum in the tribal dominated Attappady Block Panchayat.

“Also, there is a mass campaign going on that Madhu was forced to commit theft because of poverty, which is absolutely wrong. Everyone should understand the reality that he was a mentally challenged person who lived in a forest abandoning himself from the public and he was not even able to understand whether he committed the so-called crime or not,” the activist narrated the campaign about the conditions in the tribal hamlets in Attappady.

“Nobody in Attappady is forced to steal food because of poverty”, he added. However, the narrative that the person was forced to steal food grains from the local shops due to poverty is widely spreading through reports and social media platforms.

“It is a mob lynching, the culprits should be punished.”

As of now, the body of the deceased has been shifted to Thrissur Medical College for the post-mortem.

Meanwhile, Minister for Welfare of SCs, STs and Backward Classes AK Balan has said that the accused in the case will be severely punished.

Condemning the heinous attack, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan directed the state police chief to take strict actions against the culprit.

“A civilised society can’t tolerate such violence. These kinds of incidents will tarnish the image of Kerala which we have gained through social and cultural movements”, CM Vijayan said in a Facebook post.