The tragic death of 26-year-old Shaheed Bava who died after being beaten up by a group of alleged Islamic fundamentalists has shocked and shamed Kerala.
Bava was attacked on Wednesday in Mukkam for visiting a woman with whom he allegedly had an illicit relationship.
Noted Malayalam writer and social activist M.N. Karassery says no one has the right to interfere with the personal freedom of others.
“As a resident of Mukkam, I’m ashamed today. No one has the right to kill others, neither politicians, nor religious fundamentalists. It was a barbaric act,” he fumes.
As Karassery says, if anyone had a complaint, it should have been the woman Bava visited. “When she was okay with it why should others have a problem?” he asks.
He rightly points out that people are taking the law into their own hands, which shows the weakness of the law and order system in the state. “Such behaviour is unacceptable and does not befit a civilised society,” he said.
Unfortunately, the Mukkam episode has several precedents. Recently, Raghu, a native of Palakkad, was beaten to death by an angry mob in Perumbavoor which believed him to be a pickpocket. Raghu was proved innocent.
Two months ago, an angry mob beat up a group of migrant labourers accusing it of stealing mobile phones, and in Nilampathinjamukal, migrants were attacked by a mob for stealing shirts.
That a mob can take it upon itself to meet out justice shows just how ineffective the criminal justice system is.
Chairman of the State Human Rights Commission, Justice J.B. Koshy, says the law and order situation in the State is deteriorating.
“Lynching, custodial deaths, human rights violations are on the rise here. Only stern action can save the day,” he warns. Koshy says religious fundamentalism, too, is growing in the State.
“It’s really disturbing. We need to go by the principle of live and let live. If we start interfering with the freedom of others, where will it end?”
He recalls a case where a Muslim woman was murdered by her husband in Palakkad for entering a mosque against his orders.
“He owned up to the crime. How can anyone interfere with the personal beliefs and freedom of others? We should be doing better things than moral policing others,” he said.
Koshy says the human rights commission is awaiting a factual report on what happened in Mukkam.
“We’ll take action based on the report. We will also ask the government to recover the compensation to be paid to the victim from those who attacked him,” he asserted.
Things have taken a turn for the worse when the police themselves consider they have the right to police the morals of others. Policemen in Chavakkad in Thrissur district have taken it upon themselves to crack down on those who wear low-waist jeans!
They justify their action as being “in the interest of a healthy society” and boast on record that their consistent drive against low-waist jeans has started bearing fruit as no youngster now dares to wear them.
The Oommen Chandy government itself is encouraging the public to act as a vigilante force, which is a dangerous trend.
It has offered a cash prize of `5000 to anyone who will use his/her mobile phone to inform the police of a crime.
“It is the duty of the police to detect crimes. Citizens can cooperate with police in an investigation. But, entrusting them with a participatory role could backfire since certain elements could abuse the detective role assigned to them to create mob frenzy,” says a police official who sees the danger of such a policy.
What the state needs is a strong and well trained police force that enforces the law on the statute books and does not take it upon itself to police the thoughts, beliefs and lifestyle of the public based on personal prejudice.