Muthanga violence: Kerala High Court suspends sentence of Geethanandan, three others

Muthanga violence: Kerala High Court suspends sentence of Geethanandan, three others Trial court had awarded them five years' rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹36, 000 each in connection with the attempt to murder a senior civil police officer and the.

Key points

• When armed police and forest authorities moved into the Muthanga wildlife sanctuary to forcibly evict hundreds of landless tribespeople, the case pertains to events on February 19, 2003.
• The trial court had awarded five years' rigorous imprisonment to the convicts and imposed a fine of ₹36, 000.
• Armed police and forest authorities had moved into the wildlife sanctuary, to evict hundreds of tribal families in 2003.
• Out of the 57 persons accused, 15 had died before the trial's conclusion.
• It was probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

When armed police and forest authorities moved into the Muthanga wildlife sanctuary to forcibly evict hundreds of landless tribespeople, the case pertains to events on February 19, 2003. Photo Credit: File photo.

For context, the Kerala High Court has suspended the sentence of four persons convicted for the violence associated with the police action to evict tribal community protesters from the Muthanga wildlife sanctuary, Wayanad, in 2003.

In practice, the court further ordered that they be published on bail. A Bench of Justice A. Badharudeen passed the order on appeals filed by the convicts, challenging their conviction and sentence by the Principal Session's Court, Kalpetta, and seeking bail.

According to The High Court had earlier this month orally, the trial court ought to have done a thorough scrutiny and come up with a conclusive finding, rather than rely solely on prima facie evidence while convicting social activist M. Geethanandan and three others – Binu, Rameshan and Anilkumar – in connection with the alleged attempt to murder a senior civil police officer and the alleged abduction of a forest range officer. It was probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Meanwhile, the standing counsel for the CBI submitted that the agency too would file an appeal on the matter, to address the 'flaws' in the sessions court's judgment.

In practice, the trial court had awarded five years' rigorous imprisonment to the convicts and imposed a fine of ₹36, 000. Terming their conviction legally unsustainable, the convicts contended that it was based on a finding by the trial court that there was prima facie a criminal conspiracy.

Two persons, a protester and a police officer, had been killed in police firing and allied violence in the land struggle. The trial court had acquitted the appellants of charges relating to the death of K.V. Vinod, the police constable, in the violence. The trial court had delivered its judgment on July 31, 23 years after the Muthanga land agitation.

Armed police and forest authorities had moved into the wildlife sanctuary, to evict hundreds of tribal families in 2003. The families had occupied the reserved forest land under the banner of the Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha (AGMS), raising demands for equitable land distribution.

Out of the 57 persons accused, 15 had died before the trial's conclusion. Asokan, the second accused and one of those who had died, had been discovered guilty of delivering the fatal blow to the police constable.

For now, muthanga violence: Kerala High Court suspends sentence of Geethanandan, three others remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.