The Kerala high court on Thursday refused to quash the FIRs registered against former CPM Idukki district secretary M.M. Mani for the three murders in Idukki district in the 1980s.
The court said, “Shocking revelations and disclosures made by Mony in his speech, that brutal murders of some political rivals were part of a diabolical plan after a list was prepared to annihilate political opponents in retaliation of the attacks made on his partymen necessarily has to be probed.”
There should be a full-fledged investigation into the claim, Justice S.S. Satheesachandran observed, while responding to three petitions filed by Mani seeking to quash the FIRs.
“Every citizen should be free from fear and a threat to life. The right to life means something more than the survival of an animal existence and it would include the right to live in peace (and) with human dignity,”the court held.
“The speech made by Mani reveals that after preparing a list, many political activists were butchered one after the other in retaliation, and that such a policy was followed for decades in the district where he controlled the party. This is so shocking to the human ethos of a civilized society,” the
court held.
Upholding the arguments of the director general of prosecution, the court held, “The disclosure or commission of cognizable offences (him) fully justifies the registration of the crime and the investigation that was proceeded thereof.”
“Investigation of the crime is within the domain of the police. For the reason that once a crime has been investigated and charge filed against one or more accused persons and the trial proceeded against him ending in his conviction and acquittal, it does not mean that it cannot be probed again at all.”
“No political party or leader can claim to be a law unto itself of himself, and it’s above the law; and when there is a rule of law, that alone has to prevail,” the court held.
Reacting to the news, Opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan said the high court decision to reject M.M. Mani’s plea was in the interest of the rule of law. The court decision could not be portrayed as wrong, he told the media in the capital.
VS said Mani had made a highly controversial statement, which had even one like Narendra Modi criticising the CPM.
The state committee ousted Mani from the post of district secretary following pressure from the Central leadership and V.S. Achuthanandan.