Shahabas murder case: Accused minors denied entry to higher secondary schools

Fifteen-year-old tenth standard student Mohammad Shahabas died on March 1, a day after he received a massive blow on his head with a 'nunchuk' during a fight between two student groups at a tuition centre at Thamarassery in Kozhikode. The six accused were allowed to sit for the SSLC exams that began on March 3 and five of them cleared it with reasonably high marks.

Two of them secured admission in Government Higher Secondary School, Kuttichira, and St. Joseph's Boys' Higher Secondary School, Kozhikode; both the schools over 40 kms from Thamarassery. Their education is unimpeded. 

However, the other three who got admission in schools that are either close to or in Thamarassery have still not been allowed to enter the schools.

After the first allotment, the students were admitted to a school just 4 kms from Thamarassery. Parents of other children objected, they threatened to withdraw their wards from the school. Fearing that a fall in student numbers could put the jobs of teachers in danger, the school refused admission to the accused boys.

In the second allotment, the three were given admission to the Government Higher Secondary School, Thamarassery, the very school they did their 10th standard. The clash that took Shahabas's life was between boys of the GHSS Thamsrassery and the school where Shahabas studied, Muhammedali Jauhar higher secondary School, Elettil. 

Presumption of innocence
"Like in the first school, parents found this offensive. They said they cannot allow murderers to sit with their children in class. This time, students also rose up in protest. They shut the gates of the school to prevent their entry. Some of Shahbas's classmates at Jauhar are now in Thamarassery," a top Education Department official said.

Even before they were granted bail, the High Court had directed authorities to make sure that the accused students, who were then lodged in the Observation Home, participated in the admission process. "The principle of best interest of the child is one of the fundamental principles of the Juvenile Justice Act," said activist and lawyer J Sandhya. 

The first of the JJ Act "fundamental principles" is the 'Principle of presumption of innocence'; a child will be presumed to be innocent of any mala fide or criminal intent up to the age of 18.

Anger trumps juvenile justice
Implementation of the law, however, becomes difficult in the face of public unrest. So the Kozhikode Child Welfare Committee called the parents for a counselling session. 

"The session had to be dropped because parents refused to sit through. The few who were fine with the admission of the accused children were shouted at by others," the Education Department official said.

Kozhikode District Panchayat president Sheeja Sasi said she felt helpless. "The parents are obstinately against letting the students into the school. I don't know what to do. It is a real crisis," she told Onmanorama.

Thamarassery Panchayat president Annedath Aravindan sounded even more frustrated. "We tried to reason with the parents, we told them that it is a court order, we told them that it is the right of these children. But no one seems to be listening. They don't want these kids to study in the Thamarassery school," Aravindan said.

Safe exit for kids
The panchayat president wants the government to find an alternative arrangement. "Even if we assume that the students are eventually allowed to enter the Thamarassery school, what if they are attacked. There are people here who want revenge. Who will answer if something happens to them," Aravindan said. 

Before the SSLC exam began, the principal of GHSS Thamarassery had received an anonymous letter that threatened to kill the boys if they were allowed to appear for the exams. 

"I think it will be safe if the children are put in a school that is quite away from here," he said. 

Already a proposal had gone from the Kozhikode District Educational Office to the General Education Department (GED)seeking the transfer of two of these kids to St. Joseph's Boys' Higher Secondary School, Kozhikode, and St Mary's High School Koodathayi, both a fair distance from Thamarassery. The third boy's parents have said they would homeschool their son. 

LDF government's dilemma
The GED has still not taken a decision, and this delay has stoked suspicions.

"The parents of the accused children have links to the CPM and that is why the KSU and the MSF (student wings of Congress and Muslim League) had taken out protest marches when the students were allowed to write the SSLC exams. So the CPM fears that any decision seen as favouring the accused kids could be at odds with the dominant public sentiment and, therefore, would hurt the LDF in the coming local body polls," a senior Muslim League leader in Kozhikode said.

Curious case of Child Rights Commission 
The seeming indifference of the State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights is also seen as a reflection of the LDF's strategic restraint on the issue. The Commission has not intervened.

"We have not received any complaints," Commission chairperson K V Manoj Kumar said as reason for non-involvement. "Moreover, the case is now pending with the High Court," he said. 

When he was reminded that the High Court had already given the children bail and insisted on the education rights of children in conflict with law, he said "some other petitions" had been filed in the HC. "I am not sure but I think someone had filed some petitions," he said.

"Can't the Commission take suo motu cognisance of the issue," the chairperson was asked. "There is nothing that prevents the Commission from doing so but since certain cases are pending in the High Court we have not taken such a decision," the chairperson said.

In its June 11 order granting bail to the accused minors, here is what the HC said: "The thread that runs through the entire gamut of the JJ Act is rehabilitation of the child to enable him to reintegrate into the society and ultimately pave the way for reformation of the child in conflict with law."