The Kerala High Court has upheld the conviction and life imprisonment of five BJP activists for the 2006 murder of a young CPI(M) worker in Kannur. The court described the killing, carried out by hurling a country-made bomb at the victim’s head, as a tragic consequence of the persistent political rivalry between the BJP and CPI(M) in the region.
A division bench comprising Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Jobin Sebastian noted that the 2006 incident was a retaliatory strike following an earlier assault on a BJP worker. The victim, 24-year-old Yackoob, was killed instantly when a bomb was thrown at him on the night of June 13, 2006.
“This is another incident in which a young man aged 24 years lost his life as a victim of the political rivalry that existed between CPI(M) and BJP, two political parties, in Kannur district,” the bench observed while dismissing the appeals filed by the convicts.
The convicts—Vijesh (43), Prakashan (48), Kavyesh (43), Manoharan (31), and Sankaran Master (49)—had challenged the trial court’s verdict, citing alleged discrepancies in witness statements and a delay in filing the First Information Report (FIR).
However, the High Court found the testimony of the eyewitnesses, who were party colleagues of the deceased and had also sustained injuries in the attack, to be consistent and reliable. The bench noted that the witnesses clearly identified the five accused as the primary perpetrators.
Addressing the delay in the FIR, the court accepted the prosecution’s explanation that the police were initially occupied with patrolling the area to prevent further retaliatory violence. The FIR was registered six hours after the incident.
The court emphasized the “homicidal” nature of the death, citing medical reports that detailed a total loss of brain matter due to the blast. The bench ruled that even if only one individual threw the bomb, the entire group was liable under the principle of “common objective.”
“The accused, who inflicted a grievous injury on the head of the deceased by hurling a country-made bomb and causing an explosion, cannot be heard to say that they did not conceive an intention to murder the deceased,” the bench stated.
According to the prosecution, the accused formed an unlawful assembly armed with dangerous weapons and trespassed into a house where Yackoob and his colleagues were staying. As the CPI(M) workers attempted to flee in fear, the accused chased them and hurled a bomb directly at Yackoob’s head, leading to his spot death.
