Kerala: 2 CPM activists arrested under UAPA over pro-Maoist leaflets

Although the CPI(M) sought a review of the action by the Home Department, which is handled by Chief Minister and party polit buro member Pinarayi Vijayan, the police stuck to its stand — that the UAPA charges against the two could not be revoked.

An officer said the arrested are facing Sections 20, 38 and 39 of UAPA. “Both of them have Maoist links and we have enough details to prove it. The arrested law students had been under our observation for some time. The duo are suspected to be Maoists, but operating under the garb of CPI(M) workers,” said the officer.

Later in the evening, a magistrate court remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days.

On Friday night, a police patrolling team spotted the youths under suspicious circumstances within the Kozhikode city limits. When one of them tried to escape, police seized pro-Maoist leaflets and notices protesting against the killing of four Maoists at Attappadi in Kerala earlier this week. During searches at their houses, police seized more material substantiating their Maoist links.

On Saturday, as the CPI(M) Kozhikode district leadership and the families of the arrested youths protested the police action, Vijayan directed the police chief to look into why they were slapped with UAPA provisions.

However, North Zone IG Ashok Yadav, who examined the case, said that the UAPA against the CPI(M) workers would not be revoked. “Police action was based on evidences. We have recovered the documents and we have initial evidences to suggest UAPA against them,” said Yadav.

CPI(M) Kozhikode district secretary P Mohanan said, “The two youths have been arrested on charges of Maoist links and police have charged the anti-terror law against them. We cannot accept the police action against the youths on the ground that they have friendships with Maoists or they possessed some Maoist pamphlets. Police acted in a thoughtless manner. The UAPA should have been used in more judicious way,” he said.

The families of the youths also claimed that the two have no links with Maoists, but were CPI(M) workers.

The use of UAPA against the CPI (M) workers was criticized by CPI(M) ally CPI as well as the opposition Congress.

The issue has turned into a major embarrassment for the CPI(M), which has been facing heat from within the ruling Left Democratic Front over the killings of the four Maoists last week. While the government reiterated that police fired at Maoists in self-defence, ruling ally CPI claimed it was a fake encounter and sought a judicial probe. The CPI had also sent its own team to Attappadi on a fact-finding mission.

The CPI (M) has always protested against the use of the UAPA. In May, Vijayan had told the Assembly that political workers would not be booked under UAPA.

In 2015, the Kerala High Court had stated that being a Maoist is not a crime, and that a person cannot be arrested merely because he is one. Acting on a writ petition filed by Shyam Balakrishnan, who alleged he was illegally picked up by the Kerala Police in 2014 on suspicion of being a Maoist, the bench of Justice Muhammed Mustaque said a person could be arrested only if he is involved in unlawful activities.

“Being a Maoist is no crime. Freedom of thought and liberty of conscience is a natural right. Freedom becomes unlawful only when it concerns the physical law of the state,” said the judge.