13 RSS workers acquitted in 2008 CPI(M) worker murder case by Kerala HC
text_fields
Kochi: 13 RSS workers were acquitted by the Kerala High Court in the 2008 Thiruvananthapuram CPI(M) worker's murder case, saying that the prosecution failed miserably to prove the incriminating circumstances against the accused.
A bench of Justices K Vinod Chandran and C Jayachandran on Tuesday allowed the appeal filed by the RSS workers challenging the Sessions Court order that convicted them.
In the order issued late on Tuesday, the bench observed that political rivalry is a seething cauldron of intrigue, grudge and betrayal, often spewing out the venom of hatred, in the form of senseless bloodshed.
"The manner in which events were portrayed before Court, smacks of a deliberate attempt to tutor witness and collect evidence, to define a scripted story. The sad saga of political rivalry and mindless killing, as we have noticed in many cases, tears under the social fabric of the State," it said.
"The yearly remembrances, only stoke the fires of rivalry and do not wipe the tears of the bereaved or awaken the conscience of those who matter. Another life is lost and yet another prosecution fails, both lying on the wayside, grim reminders to the society of the futility of it all. We cannot but acquit the accused of the charges levelled against them; the prosecution having miserably failed to prove the Incriminating circumstances against the accused. There is absolutely no evidence worth its salt, and the prosecution failed to prove any corroborative circumstance, but for the political rivalry existing between two groups," it added.
The court noted that the escape of the accused was fast and the witnesses exaggerated the identification and details of the fleeing vehicles.
Thiruvananthapuram Additional Sessions Court sentenced 13 RSS workers to double life imprisonment on December 16, 2016, in the case of killing CPI(M) activist VV Vishnu on April 1, 2008. The lower court had found all 13 accused guilty in the case of killing a CPI(M) activist.
With PTI inputs