Brother’s lynching spurs man to help family of Ram Narayan

The lynching of Ram Narayan in Kerala’s Walayar deeply disturbed many, and for Abdul Jabbar, it revived painful memories of his brother Ashraf, who had earlier been killed in a similar attack by a Hindutva mob in Mangaluru, Karnataka.

Still traumatised by his brother’s death, Jabbar said the incident strengthened his resolve to ensure justice for the victim’s family and to work towards preventing such lynchings in the future.

Ram Narayan, a 31-year-old Dalit migrant worker from Chhattisgarh, was killed in Walayar on December 17 after being accused of theft. During the assault, he was reportedly questioned about whether he was “a Bangladeshi.”

According to accounts, residents of the Attappallam area detained him on suspicion of stealing, subjected him to severe violence, and he later died from his injuries, Siasat Daily reported.

Jabbar, who works as a software developer in Ernakulam, said he rushed to Thrissur Medical College after watching a video of the assault. He alleged that when he reached the hospital, police officers were treating the victim’s family harshly and behaving as though they were at fault.

He described the situation at the mortuary as grim, noting that only the victim’s cousin and a friend were present and were unaware of the gravity of the crime. In an interview with Maktoob Media, Jabbar said he felt compelled to explain to them that the killing amounted to a hate crime and required serious legal attention.

According to Jabbar, the police appeared eager to close the case quickly. He alleged that officers attempted to collect ₹25,000 from the family for ambulance charges and to transport the body back to Chhattisgarh.

He said he confronted the police, questioning how a case involving the killing of a Dalit citizen by a Hindutva mob could be handled so casually, and physically intervened to prevent the body from being sent away.

After the confrontation, Jabbar contacted Manisha, an advocate associated with the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) in Karnataka, and went on to form a collective with other lawyers and members of the CPI(M) Red Star and the Solidarity Youth Movement. Acting as convener, he helped establish an action committee that later organised a protest outside the Thrissur Municipal Corporation.

When Ram Narayan’s family eventually arrived in Kerala after a tiring journey involving multiple train changes, his wife, children, and mother were provided shelter and meals at the Welfare Party office.

The action committee demanded substantial compensation from the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund, insisting that it should not be less than ₹10 lakh and proposing ₹25 lakh as appropriate.

The group also called for the constitution of a Special Investigation Team, the invocation of mob-lynching provisions, and victim compensation in accordance with the Supreme Court’s Tehseen Poonawalla guidelines.

In addition, the committee urged that the case be registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.