Oommen Chandy withdraws case against RSS workers on humanitarian ground

The murder attempt case was registered in 2005 against 32 RSS workers after they attacked and hurled bombs on police inspector Mohan Nair, who tried to contain campus violence in the state capital. The case was withdrawn after the charge sheet was filed the court.

Chandy said one of the alleged accused in the case named T R Adarsh had petitioned him to withdraw the case as it became a hurdle for his career. A degree student at the time of the campus violence, Adarsh got selection to police as a constable in 2012. But, he could not join the force due to a criminal case. Hence, he petitioned the Chief Minister.

Chandy’s office said the government has applied the petition to go through all formalities before deciding to withdraw the case. Adarsh was innocent in the case. He had been keeping away from the campus for six months following an accident. On the day of violence, he turned up at the campus with the help of another person. He could not run away when police rushed into the campus to contain violence, leading to his arrest in the case.

The CM’s office said since the case against one person could not be withdrawn when it has 31 others as the accused, the decision was made binding to all. Hence, the murder attempt case against all 31 RSS workers was withdrawn.

In the past also, Chandy had taken decisions on humanitarian ground, which invited the wrath of the Opposition. When senior UDF leader R Balakrishna Pillai was jailed in a corruption case, Chandy allowed him to stay in a private hospital on health ground after his parole period was over. Chandy’s justification was that Pillai had been suffering from several diseases, which required treatment at a private hospital.

On the same humanitarian ground, Pillai was released from the jail before the term of his conviction period was over. Interestingly, Pillai did not go for any special treatment after being released from jail.

In another incident in which Chandy showed his humane face was the controversy involving a government engineering college student who dropped out due to alleged ragging.

The student Nirmal Madhav was in the second semester of mechanical engineering in a college under Calicut University in 2009 when he alleged ragging by SFI cadres. He joined the first semester,civil,in the private college,which is under another university,then alleged that he was being threatened by the SFI again.

After the UDF took over,he petitioned Chandy for admission to the Government Engineering College,Kozhikode,in the fifth semester,mechanical. He got his wish, Chandy citing compassionate grounds once again.