Rajan Murder Case - 1977 - Calicut/Kerala

5) Rajan Case - 1977 - Calicut/Kerala
If "Rageela Rasul" case could be responsible for division of India, the Rajan Case introduced the concept of
human Rights to Independent India and a check on the limitations of power held by the State.

Why is P.Rajan? Why was he kiiled? Who killed him? The background and the imapact -

The May 1969 events in France were a volatile period of civil unrest punctuated by massive general strikes and s
tudents played a key role to almost collapse the regime of Charles De Gualle. Most of the students were influenced by
the death of a charasmatic Argentine Marxist revolutionary, Ernesto "Che" Guevara , in 1967. Needless to say,
these incidents had an impact on the still nascent student movement in India.

India having been born in 1947, was having a mid life crises and Indira Gandhi declared nation wide Emergency
 in India, in 1976. During the nationwide Emergency in India between 1975 and 1977 Fundamental Rights of the
citizen were suspended by the government, hence creating a period of over zealous police activism.

On March 1, 1976, P. Rajan, 21, a final year student of the Calicut Engineering College,
was whisked away from the hostel in the early hours along with another student, Joseph Chali.
Immediately after the arrest, the Princi-pal informed Rajan's father, T.V Eachara Warrior of his son's arrest.
From the day word reached him in Ernakulam/Cochin, where he was resident, Warrior made frantic efforts to trace this son.
He met legislators, he petitioned the concerned authorities, he sought the help of the Home Minister, K. Karunakaran.
All this had no effect. Those were the black days of the Emergency, when issues relating to the citizen's
liberty could not be raised in the courts.

After a period of six months, Joseph Chali suddenly reappeared and it became clear that he was kept in
police custody and was brutally tortured in the prison. He suffered from serious brain cuncussions and
befiore he could tell about the where-abouts of P.Rajan, he died in his coma. This was a major setback for Rajan's Father.

After the Emergency was lifted, Warrior filed a suit of "Habeas Corpus" in the High Court in Ernakulam.
The respondents were Home Minister K. Karunakaran, Home Secretary to Kerala Government, Inspector General of Police and
other senior police officials. From the evidence of eight wit-nesses, it became clear that from the hostel,
 Rajan had been taken to the secluded Bungalow, where he was tortured by six police-men. But as far as the
Government was concerned, Rajan was not arrested. The judge ordered that the boy be produced in court. At a subsequent hearing in a case which made legal history in India, the Division Bench of the Kerala High Court,
held that Mr. Karunakaran had lied to the Court. The verdict created a political furore in the state and following pressures from within the party and
 from the ruling front, Karunakaran had to resign as Chief Minister within one month of his taking oath.

So, what happened to P.Rajan? He died due to the torture of extreme kind, especially something called
"uruttal" - It is a a practice of 'rolling' a heavy wooden log on the body of the victim, till his bones are crushed.
His body was then disposed of by the police, and has never been recovered so far.

Impact -

a) REC, Calicut, organises their annual cultural festival in memory of Rajan.
b) P.Rajan's case had an profound impact on the common citizens of India with respect to - Rigt to Live and Right to Know.
The civil liberties activism movement found its place in Independent India.
c) A Fresh probe in Rajan case sought in 2011.
d) Mr Warrier, a broken man, wrote the book "http://www.scribd.com/doc/57980534/Memories-of-a-Father"