Representational imageThiruvananthapuram: At least 37 people have been murdered with a political motive in Kerala in the last five years, including the six killings reported after the Left Democratic Front government came to power in May. A BJP worker died when a country bomb went off accidentally.
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Kerala’s bloody record is surpassed only by Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, according to last year’s data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
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Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 28 political murders, while Jharkhand came second with 15 and Kerala third with 12.As many as 5,504 cases of political violence were reported in Kerala during the term of the previous United Democratic Front.
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Since the assembly elections in May, 485 such cases have been reported.Data from Kerala is alarming. The state is witnessing an increase even in the incidence of murders without any apparent political link.
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While 33,327 murders were reported in India in 2014, 367 of them were in Kerala, according to the ‘Crime India Report’. In 2015, the national toll was 31,480 and Kerala’s 334.
Kerala stands 17th among the 29 states in the number of murders, compared to the 18th position in 2014.Keeping track of political murders is not an easy task for the police. Every party claims as their workers the victims of murders. They cry murder even if the victim dies while engaging in manufacturing of bombs.
Though the NCRB regularly compiles a list of political murders, the victims’ names are not publicized because the political leaders tend to claim them as their martyrs even if the murders had personal motives. The data collected by the local police may not be authentic, an officer of the State Crime Records Bureau said.
