Kerala requests for CBI probe into Marad incident

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 27: The Kerala Government has recommended a CBI investigation into the larger conspiracy behind the Marad incident of May 2, 2003 in which nine people were massacred on the Marad beach in Kozhikode district.

Request to the Centre for a CBI probe into the incident was among the actions taken by the state government on the Justice Thomas P Joseph Commission which inquired into the incident.

The Commission's findings along with the Action Taken Report (ATR) were presented to the State Assembly today by Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

The Commission had pinpointed involvement of the activists of the National Development Front (NDF) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in the incident.

The NDF and IUML activists were actively involved in the planning and execution of the massacre and it was quite unlikely they were involved without the blessings of their respective leadership at least at the local level, the Commission report said.

The Commission said two local IUML leaders had been involved in the conspiracy or had prior information about it.

The massacre at Marad beach on May 2, 2003 was not merely a revenge for the killing of three persons at Marad beach on January 3/4, 2002. Instead it was a one-sided attack on people belonging to a community without any provocation.

The lethargic attitude of the policy of appeasement adopted by some political parties had encouraged and emboldened religious fundamentalism and terrorism even involving external forces which is a reality in the state.

The successive governments after 1996 failed in taking effective steps to prevent the growth of religious fundamentalism and terrorism in the state which sometimes led to communal clashes and riots, the Commission pointed out.

The Commission said the previous government had ''unjustifiably refused'' to order a CBI investigation into the Marad incident of May 2, 2003 or at aleast about the larger conspiracy involving other forces, source of all explosives, large quantity of other weapons collected and the funding in the planning and execution of the incident.

The communal division that existed in Marad beach following the killing of five persons on January 3/4,2002 coupled with the divisive activities of Muslim fundamentalists and other forces had also contributed to the massacre at the Marad beach on May 2, 2003.

The ''unjustified delay'' in the state government granting sanction for the prosecution of the accused in the crime relating to the 2002 incident had also contributed to the massacre on May 2, 2003, it said.

The Commission said the then Kozhikode District Collector T O Suraj was responsible for the failure of the civil administration in taking timely and preventive action. The allegation of communalism raised against him could not be ignored as baseless and was required to be enquired into by the state government.

The Commission had also blamed former Kozhikode city police commissioner Sanjivkumar Patjoshi for failure on the part of the city police administration in taking effective steps to prevent violence on Marad beach. He did not effectively carry out many of the directions issued to him in that regard by his superior officer.

He also did not maintain good relationship with the then District Collector, who was also the District Magistrate.

Later, addressing a news conference, Mr Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the CBI probe would not in any way affect the ongoing Crime Branch inquiry into the Marad carnage. The Commission, which inquired the Marad incidents, in its report pointed out that since a conspiracy revolved around the incident, the ongoing Crime Branch inquiry was not sufficient to bring out all issues leading to the massacre in Marad.

I t said only a CBI probe could go into the deatils of the massacre, including conspiracy, source of income, collection of explosives and links with terrorist groups.

On the basis of the recommendation that secularism, moral values, communal amity and religious tolerance should be taught in the educational institutions, the govenment had issued necessary instructions to the Education Department for detailed examination and further action in this regard.

Mr Balakrishnan said steps had been initiated to comprehensively revise the Kerala Police Act and Manual as recommended by the Commission.

On the recommendation that religion must be separated from politics, he said it would be brought to the notice of the Centre.

The Minister said necessary action had already been taken into the inflow of foreign funds and unaccounted money into the state, its use by fundamentalist and terrorist groups or non governmental organisations.

To step up vigil on coastal areas and to check smuggling and drug trafficking through the coasts, the government would set up eight coastal police stations.

UNI