‘Another young life lost to political rivalry’: Kerala High Court upholds life term of 5 RSS-BJP workers in CPI(M) worker murder

Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Jobin Sebastian said that it cannot be expected that every witness would recount each minute detail with mathematical precision. (Image enhanced using AI)

“This is another incident in which a young man aged 24 years lost his life as a victim of the political rivalry that existed between CPI(M) and BJP, two political parties, in Kannur district,” the Kerala High Court said in its March 11 order. 

‘Witnesses react differently to traumatic situations’

• In considering whether the conduct of two of the witnesses in not approaching the police is, by itself, sufficient to discard their testimony, the court said it must first be observed that individuals react differently when confronted with traumatic or life-threatening situations. 
• While narrating an incident, it cannot be expected that every witness would recount each and every minute detail with mathematical precision. 
• Minor variations in the narration of the said events are natural and lend assurance to the genuineness of the testimony rather than detracting from it. 

• No uniform or rigid pattern of behaviour can be expected from persons placed in similar circumstances.
• The mere fact that some of the witnesses did not rush to the hospital immediately after the occurrence cannot be treated as unnatural or suspicious, particularly since the medical evidence on record is consistent with the act of the accused person. 
• The court pointed out that there is no reason to disbelieve the presence of some of the witnesses at the scene merely on the ground that they did not immediately approach the police to inform them of the incident. 
• The court noted that although the main overt act, namely the hurling of a bomb towards the head of the victim, is attributed to one of the accused, all of them are liable as the act was committed in prosecution of the common object of an unlawful assembly.
• The accused, who inflicted a grievous injury on the head of the victim by hurling a country-made bomb and causing an explosion, cannot be heard to say that they did not conceive an intention to murder him in this case. 
• The evidence of the doctor concerned and the post-mortem certificate issued by him undoubtedly reveal that the death of Yackoob was homicidal and that the injury sustained to the head resulted from a bomb blast. 
• The combined reading of the testimonies of the injured witnesses, the evidence of the doctor, and the wound certificates issued by him clearly establishes that the injuries of Yackoob were not self-inflicted but were the result of the overt act of the accused person. 

‘Activist, unlawful assembly, murder’

• Yackoob, the victim in this case, was a CPI(M) activist, and the accused were activists of RSS/BJP.
• Due to political rivalry, under the leadership of one of the accused, they all allegedly hatched a criminal conspiracy to murder Yackoob.
• In pursuance of the said plot, on June 13, 2006, the accused persons at 9:15 pm allegedly formed themselves into an unlawful assembly armed with dangerous weapons, including country bombs.

• In furtherance of their common object of the said unlawful assembly, the accused person allegedly criminally trespassed into the courtyard of the residential house of one Janaki, where Yackoob and other CPI(M) activists were present at that time. 
• Scared of the accused, although Yackoob and those who were present there took to their heels. It was claimed that all the accused chased Yackoob and hurled a bomb, aiming at his head, which hit his head and exploded, resulting in his death.