Protests erupt in Kerala as tribal youth dies after mob attack over theft of food
A mentally challenged tribal youth was tied up and attacked by locals in Kerala's Attappady region for allegedly stealing food items from local provisional stores and hotels
Bengaluru: In a shocking incident of mob violence, a 27-year-old mentally challenged tribal youth, Madhu, was tied up and attacked by locals in Kerala’s Attappady region for allegedly stealing food items from local provisional stores and hotels. He was eventually taken away by the police from the scene of crime and died on his way to the hospital.
The incident has generated protests and outrage across the state.
Visuals circulating on social media show locals attacking Madhu, accusing him of shop-lifting, while taking selfies in the background. Madhu lived inside a cave-like structure inside the forests, 10 km from Agali, one of the towns in Attappady, in deplorable conditions, according to regional news channels.
The police did not confirm the cause of death, however, said regional news channels. So far, the police has registered a case of unnatural death, reported NDTV.
Madhu’s relatives as well as tribal activists, are protesting in Attappady, refusing to give the body for postmortem unless those who beat him up are arrested, according to reports.
Four people have been taken into custody by the police, reported Manorama News. In a statement to the media, state police chief Loknath Behra said a special team has been set up for investigation.
“More than seven accused have been identified. We’re awaiting the details of the accused and will take action against them once they come," said Prateesh Kumar, Palakkad’s police chief, while speaking to NDTV.
While activists are protesting in Attappady and elsewhere, the social media is abuzz with condemnation. The incident is also being seen in stark contrast with another, though unrelated, development—the ongoing campaign of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM government that Kerala is India’s No. 1 state.
Attappady, where Kerala has one of its largest tribal population, has been in the news in the past for poverty, malnutrition and child deaths.
“It is a blot on the societal and cultural progress Kerala has made so far," said chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a Facebook post on Friday, in Malayalam, assuring police action.
Kerala finance minister Thomas Isaac said in Malayalam on Facebook: “That people have no hesitation to kill someone who had worn out of starvation, that they were enjoying themselves taking selfies during the act, is a distress signal."
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader K. Surendran blamed the local CPM and Congress representatives from the region, accusing them of consistently neglecting the plight of tribals in the region, which eventually resulted in such an incident.
There are fewer incidents of mob crime in Kerala compared to other parts of India, a trend policy experts had previously linked to the state’s high development indices and literacy rates, but the last couple of years have seen at least four such incidents.
In May 2016, shortly after the rape-murder of a 30-year-old Dalit law student, Jisha, for which the police arrested a migrant labourer, a migrant labourer from Assam reportedly fell prey to mob violence.
NDTV reported two such incidents within the last two months. A mentally ill woman was beaten and tortured by three women in front of a crowd in Pallipuram last month, while a transgender person was harassed and stripped by a mob in Thiruvananthapuram earlier this month, it reported.
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