Activist GROW Vasu acquitted in 2016 case citing lack of evidence
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Kozhikode: The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court at Kunnamangalam on Wednesday acquitted human rights activist Ayinoor Vasu, popularly known as ‘Grow’ Vasu, in a 2016 case, citing lack of evidence.
Judicial first class magistrate V.P. Abdul Sathar stated that the prosecution has failed to prove any of the charges levelled against Vasu.
After spending 46 days behind bars, the 94-year-old Vasu finally walked out of jail.
He had been imprisoned in a case related to a protest against the state government and the police following the killing of Maoist leaders.
During this period, he refused to sign a bail bond or pay a nominal fine as part of his protest against the government and the police, whom he accused of extrajudicial killings.
In 2016, Vasu led a protest with a few others in front of the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital mortuary, following the killing of two Maoist leaders by state police forces.
The bodies of the two Maoists, Kuppu Devaraj and Ajithan, were kept at the mortuary. Vasu alleged that the killings were extrajudicial and that they were killed through treachery and not an encounter.
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Vasu was subsequently charged with unlawful assembly and obstruction of duty of a police officer.
Out of the 20 accused in the case including Vasu, 17 were acquitted due to lack of evidence, while the other two paid a fine of ₹200 each and skipped trial.
Vasu, the first accused, was charged under Section 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting) and 283 (obstruction of public way) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
On July 29 this year, following a long-pending warrant, Vasu was arrested by the police and remanded in custody after he refused to sign a bail bond.
After the arrest, he refused to cooperate with the police and the court, claiming that the case against him was fabricated and that he had not blocked any path, but only raised a few slogans.
He refused to take the help of an advocate and represented himself in court. He also spoke for the deceased Maoists and stated before the court and the media that the State government was responsible for their deaths.
Activists and opposition leaders had called for the withdrawal of charges against him citing his advanced age.
Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan had last week written to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan demanding that Vasu be freed on account of his age and the simple charges he faces. Satheesan had also met Vasu in jail during his visit to Kozhikode.
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Vasu also refused to avail himself of bail or pay the fine, claiming that he need not do so as he was not guilty. He rejected the court’s offer to appear for the trial through video-conferencing and insisted on being present in person every time.
He continued to raise slogans in favour of the deceased Maoists in the court premises despite its express orders not to do so.
Vasu was drawn to the Left political movement in Kerala through the 1940s and was an active member of the then undivided Communist Party of India (CPI).
However, in the 1950s, feeling that the party was straying from his ideals, he left to join the emerging Naxalite movement in the state.
For involvement in certain Naxal operations, Vasu was arrested by the police in 1970 and he spent the next seven years in jail.
Following his release from jail, Vasu turned to the craft of umbrella making, a skill he had acquired during his teenage years, which he continues to pursue to this day.
Ayinoor Vasu earned the 'Grow' moniker for his role in the Gwalior Rayons Organisation of Workers (GROW), where he led workers in protests at the Gwalior Rayons factory in Mavoor, Kozhikode.
