A political row has broken out over the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s purported move to grant remission of sentence to three Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] activists convicted for the politically sensational murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T.P. Chandrasekharan at Onchiyam in Kozhikode in 2012.
A “leaked” Prison department communique triggered the stormy controversy that cast the CPI(M) and the LDF government at its centre.
Television channels played up a letter to the State police department, purportedly by the Superintendent of Prisons, Kannur, seeking the law enforcement’s opinion about granting remission to 62 prisoners, including Chandrasekharan case convicts T.K. Rajesh, Muhammad Shafi, and “Annan” Sajith.
The Superintendent queried whether the convicts qualified for release under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Scheme, a Central government scheme for commuting the sentences of convicts languishing in prison for ten years or more.
The Prisons department dispatched the letter to the State Police shortly after the Kerala High Court doubled their life term without the scope of parole for 20 years.
The “disclosure” evoked intense and passionate protests from the RMP, a UDF ally.
RMP legislator and Chandrasekharan’s wife, K.K. Rema, said the CPI(M) bid to protect its “hit men” was a direct challenge to the rule of law. She accused the ruling party of holding the HC in contempt.
Two veteran Congress leaders and former Home Ministers, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and Ramesh Chennithala, cried foul.
Mr. Radhakrishnan said the release of the convicts would imperil scores of persons who had adduced evidence against them. Mr. Chennithala said the UDF would resist the bid legally and politically.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the CPI(M) feared that the convicts would spill the beans on the controversy. Hence, successive CPI(M) governments have pampered the “killers” with extended paroles, mobile phones in jail, and homemade food.
KPCC president K. Sudhakaran tied the convicts’ “release” to CPI(M)‘s “hectic bomb-making” in Kannur, supposedly to settle political scores.
BJP State president accused the CPI(M) of attempting to upend public peace and incite violence by releasing “assassins.”
Law Minister P. Rajeeve dismissed reports that the government planned to release the convicts. “A jail official or a Minister could not remit the sentence of convicted persons”.
