Kozhikode: A Kozhikode court on Wednesday acquitted 93-year-old human rights activist Ayinoor Vasu popularly known as GROW Vasu imprisoned for obstructing the way and unlawful assembly.
After coming out of prison, he lashed out at the LDF government led by Pinarayi Vijayan for the encounter killing of eight Maoists during her term as chief minister. "Eight humans were gunned down like hares by the Communist government," he said. It covered up the killings for seven years, he alleged.
Kozhikode Medical College police had pressed Section 283 (obstructing way) and Section 143 (unlawful assembly) of the IPC against 20 people, including GROW Vasu, for protesting against the alleged extrajudicial killing of two Maoists seven years ago.
Seventeen of the accused were acquitted in the case and two of them were let off after they paid the fine of Rs 200 for obstructing the way.
But GROW Vasu refused to pay the fine saying the case against him was fabricated and he had only raised the demand for a judicial inquiry into the killings of Maoists during the rule of the Pinarayi Vijayan's government since 2016.
When Vasu did not pay the fine, the Kozhikode Medical College police executed a long-pending warrant against him and arrested him on July 29. The arrest of the nonagenarian activist brought to the front the 'encounter killings' of Koppam Devarajan alias Kuppuswamy Devaraj (65), a central committee member of CPI (Maoist), and Ajitha alias Kaveri (45) in Padukka forest in the Karulai range of the Nilambur South division on November 24, 2016.
Vasu refused to cooperate with the police even after the arrest. He said he had only raised slogans demanding a judicial inquiry into the killings when their bodies were brought to the Kozhikode Medical College mortuary.
On Wednesday, September 13, Kunnamangalam First Class Magistrate Court acquitted GROW Vasu for lack of evidence.
Almost all the witnesses in the case were police officers. When the court asked if there were any independent witnesses, the prosecution said no. One independent witness said he could not identify the persons who took part in the protest.
The court also asked if there were any complaints against Vasu for obstructing the way. The police said no. The prosecution submitted a CD of the protest but without supporting documents.
After his acquittal, GROW Vasu came out of the prison, lashing out at the government.
LDF government in cross-hairs for encounter killings
Since the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government came to power in 2016, eight Maoists were killed in police encounters in the state. "The Western Ghats encounters shame Kerala," GROW Vasu said on getting out of the District Prison after 46 days.
"Eight persons were gunned down like hares. Our Communist government shot them dead. The Pinarayi government did it.
A Marxist government that holds the flag of Che Guevara did it," he said.
The government could cover up the killings for seven years, he said.
They (the government) shot the Maoists with the intention to kill them by aiming at the chests, the fiery activist said. "And they go around saying they are communists. People are not seeing through it," he said.
Vasu said he has two demands: "There should be a judicial inquiry into the killing. The killers should be punished".
Vasu said he would keep raising slogans "even if I live up to 100 years".
In the 1960s, GROW Vasu was part of the Naxalite movement. He was imprisoned for seven years in Kannur Central Prison after he was arrested in the Thirunelli Naxalite action of 1970, in which Naxal leader Arikkad Varghese was killed.
In the 1980s, he had joined hands with the Gwalior Rayons Organisation of Workers (GROW), to demand the closure of the Gwalior Rayons factory at Mavoor, saying it was polluting the Chaliyar river. Since then he came to be known as GROW Vasu.
