Gruesome Periya twin murder case

Periya twin murder case was the most gruesome that shook Kerala’s conscience after the equally dastardly killing of RMP leader T P Chandrashekaran. Nobody knows the exact reason why the assailants targeted Kripesh (19) and Sarath Lal (24), the barely teen boys from Kasaragod. It is still unknown what politics of these teens provoked the senior leaders in the opposition camp, to hatch a plan.

The Kochi CBI court on Saturday found 14 guilty in the murder that took place before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Ten of the 24 accused were acquitted. The punishment for the convicts will be announced on January 3. Most of the accused are CPM local leaders and activists. Former Uduma MLA K.V. Kunhiraman is the 20th accused in the case. Kunhiraman was accused of forcibly taking the second accused from the police station. The prosecution was able to prove the direct involvement of the first eight accused in the crime.

However, the prosecution failed to convince the court of the role of the ten accused in the case and it ended up with the court setting them free. The Periya twin murder case evoked emotional reactions, opened controversies and swerved state politics away from the total control of CPM. The case, which was first investigated by the local police and then by the crime branch, was taken over by the CBI after the parents of Kripesh and Sarath Lal approached the Supreme Court.

The state government and the CPM tried hard to prevent the CBI from taking up the case but to no avail. The government approached the Division Bench of the High Court and the Supreme Court with stay petitions. The result was a backlash.

The Constitution stipulates that the State is the guardian of the life and property of the citizen. But the state government stood for the accused in the Periya double murder case from the very beginning. The government spent several lakhs from the public exchequer on an expensive legal battle up to the Supreme Court to prevent the CBI from taking over the case. With zero ounce of respect for law and justice, they splashed crores to protect their members, the murderers.

It has been clarified that the parents of the slain youths will approach the Supreme Court with the demand that the released accused should also be punished. Kripesh and Sarath Lal were active workers of the Youth Congress and the favourite of locals in the area. People who are breadwinners of the family often face the sword of political opposition in Kerala. The gruesome political killings have torn apart families and pushed many to the verge of penury.

In the context of the conviction of the fourteen accused, the district administration needs to strengthen necessary security measures to avoid further conflict and clashes.