Author: Rajeev P I
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: August 30, 2006
The National Democratic Front (NDF), frequently
figuring in political and communal killings in Kerala but seldom getting directly
implicated, is now indicted in a political murder that nearly tore asunder
a sensitive part of North Kerala.
The court in Kozhikode pronounced six NDF
workers guilty of murdering a CPM man, Eenthullathil Binu, in communally sensitive
Nadapuram five years ago. Binu was the first accused in the alleged gang rape
of a local Muslim woman during the communal clashes there, and his was apparently
a retaliatory killing. This was though a court found there was no substance
in the rape charge against Binu and his co-accused, a few months ago. The
spiral of violence that immediately followed Binu's killing saw Nadapuram
losing property worth over Rs 3 crore.
An elusive but barely concealed communal outfit
with a visible soft face comprising academics, religious scholars and professionals,
the NDF has a rigidly organised structure down to the tiny village units,
and allegedly its own hit squads that network with other units only on a need
to know basis. NDF ranks are encouraged to have dual identities, and are well
known to have infiltrated into almost every mainline political party in the
state besides several social and professional outfits. Kerala's police have
often admitted that this makes proving their NDF identity tough even when
they get nabbed in criminal cases. In this case, however, the chargesheet
is specific that all the accused are members of the NDF.
The court will deliver the sentence on 1 September.
In Nadapuram, CPM and the Muslim League have been traditional Hindu and Muslim
pivots in a situation where Hindus comprise the lower economic strata, and
Muslims, the landed gentry and businessmen - besides enjoying sizeable NRI
remittances from the Gulf. For many years, the friction between the two sections
has resulted in bloody eruptions, especially with CPM trying to play arbiter
in almost every local issue, right down to using force to get maintenance
for divorced Muslim women.
After things reached a flashpoint by the late
1990s, the soft-peddling Muslim League was soon overhauled by the NDF, which
commanded a lot of League ranks anyway. The knives were out, bombs exploded
regularly, scores of homes were razed and many killed as both sides carried
on the war, making the communal divide complete.
So frequent have been the clashes that a peace
committee that brought in a tenuous peace a few years ago got the then Congress-led
government and the two sides to agree to withdraw all criminal cases filed
in the aftermath. But Nadapuram continues to sit on a communal powder keg
- sophisticated steel bombs continue showing up every other week there, and
the last haul was only two days ago.
Anyhow, in January 2001, while the turf battle
raged, a bunch of CPM men barged into the home of a Muslim woman, Nabeesa
in Theruvamparambu, ransacking and destroying whatever they found. She was
staying there with her 10-year-old daughter, and her husband, like many local
Muslim men, was in the Gulf.
It didn't take long before it became a huge
emotive issue, after the marauders were charged with having gang raped her
in front of her little daughter. The cops registered a case and Binu, who
was the first accused, went into hiding. But not for long - he was set upon
in broad daylight and chopped to death. The fast track court that tried the
alleged rape issue, ruled there was no medical or other evidence to indicate
a rape did happen and absolved all the accused of that charge, while handing
them short sentences for attacking the victim's home and destroying utensils.
