SC upholds conviction of CPM men held guilty of killing two RSS/VHP activists in Kerala in 2002

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the conviction of five CPM men held guilty of killing two RSS/Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists in Kerala on March 1, 2002, during a bandh called by the Hindu outfits.

“Crime creates a sense of societal fear and it adversely affects the societal conscience. It is inequitable and unjust if such a situation is allowed to perpetuate and continue in the society... The courts in the discharge of their duties are tasked with balancing the interests of the accused on one hand and the state/society on the other,” a Bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Punjab Varale said, dismissing the appeals filed by convict Dineshan and three others.

In every civilised society, the purpose of the criminal administrative system was to protect individual dignity and restore societal stability and order, aside from creating faith and cohesion in the society, it said.

The convicts had contended that the inquest report was not made properly and the eyewitnesses parroted the statements only to implicate the accused persons due to political enmity.

Though there was inconsistency in the witnesses’ statements, the court said, it would not render their testimony untrustworthy.

“Only because the body of Sujeesh was found at a place little away from the place of body of other victim Sunil, it cannot be the sole and decisive factor to discard the entire case of prosecution,” it said.

On March 1, 2002, RSS/VHP had called for a bandh during which clashes erupted between members of the CPM and the RSS. A group of 11 persons belonging to the RSS/VHP hid themselves fearing the CPM-led mob, but two of them were attacked and killed.