T.V. Eachara Varier v. Secretary to the Ministry of Home [1977]

By Preethi Maddu

Introduction

This case is about fierce and brutal torment in a police camp in the state coordinated by senior state police authorities. It is the story of a student who toppled a Chief Minister.  Rajan, a final year student of the Regional Engineering College, Calicut, was a splendid understudy, a legitimacy grant holder, a phase and radio artist and entertainer. In the early long periods of March 1, 1976. Rajan was purportedly arrested by the police from the school inn. He has not been known about since his capture, he was tormented and beaten ruthlessly by the police officers and his body was discarded in a dam at Kerala. Till date no legitimate reports are given about his passing. Prof. Eachara Warrier, Rajan’s dad, a retired instructor of Hindi, recorded a writ on March 25, 1977, in the Kerala High Court. The court fixed March 28 for a primer hearing. The following day the matter was brought up in the State Assembly and the public authority asserted that the kid was not arrested. 

Following Incidents

The instance of the missing understudy expected undermining measurements. The political quiet was broken. The new Congress Chief Minister, K. Karunakaran, who was confirmed on March 26, not exactly a month prior, offered to leave. A division seat of the Kerala High Court gave a writ of Habeas Corpus on April 13, to the State Chief Minister, (who was then the Home Minister), the Home Secretary and the Inspector General of Police, to produce Rajan in court on April 21. Students from far and wide Kerala have taken up the issue and all political groups and parties have joined in. Father Vadakkan, a radical Christian cleric, went on a multi day quick to communicate compassion for Prof. Warrier about the cruel demeanor of Karunakaran. He has compromised another endless quickly if the Center doesn’t structure an intensive investigation into the occurrence. Karunakaran has needed to venture down and exchanges on a replacement to the Chief Minister have begun.

Rajan’s family comes from Mala in Trichur locale. Karunakaran has been addressing Mala in the State Assembly since 1967. The kid’s dad met Karunakaran on March 10, 1976, and mentioned to him the arrival of his child. In his sworn statement under the watchful eye of the court Prof. Warrier said that the clergyman disclosed to him that his child was associated with a genuine case and he would do whatever he could to help the kid. 

Karunakaran in his counter sworn statement straight rejected that he had at any point met the candidate, Rajan’s dad. Deciding to distrust Karunakaran and the police, the High Court has held that the police arrested the kid. “He will be considered to be in guardianship except if in any case shown and that it is the obligation of the state to demonstrate that he had been delivered after March 2, 1976.” 

Rajan was the lone child of Prof. Eachara Warrier, who never fiddled with legislative issues. On March 2, 1976, he got a letter from the head of the Engineering College that Rajan had been captured. Dreading the news may disturb his little girls Rema and Chandni, he didn’t educate them till their college assessments were finished. He moved between various police headquarters, sent petitions to the Home Secretary, I.G. of police, the Home Minister, the Chief Minister and the people pulling the strings in Delhi. He kept in touch with Kerala MPs, met the Home Minister and the Chief Minister Achutha Menon. Be that as it may, everything ends up being a waste of time. 

The bothered dad could sit idle while the nation was under Emergency. After the Emergency was lifted. Prof. Warrier moved to the court. The Press and individuals took up the issue. It was brought up in the political decision gatherings in Mala. Two observers Parameswaran and Rajan, dismissed in the High Court that Karunakaran, while tending to a political decision meeting in Mala (his gathering supporters) said that Rajan was captured regarding a homicide case. Testimonies were recorded in court keeping the capture from getting the kid, in the interest of the Chief Minister, Karunakaran, Home Secretary, Narayanaswamy, I.G. of Police, V.N. Rajan. D.I.G. (Wrongdoing), Jayaram Padickal and S.P. Kozhikode, Lakshmanan. One of the significant observers, K. Rajan, who runs a typing establishment at Chathamangalam where the designing school is found, expressed in his affirmation that he saw about six men in regular clothes tormenting Rajan in a room of the traveler cabin at Kakkayam on March 2, last year (the day after the understudy was purportedly arrested by the police). 
The observer guaranteed that Rajan was subsequently moved by those men in an oblivious state. He could recognize one of these men as a sub-auditor of police Pulikodan Narayanan. The observer who said that he, at the end of the day, was in police care at that point, likewise asserted that the Superintendent of Police (S.P.) was available. Two different observers, Jacob George and Thomas George, final year students of the school, said in their affirmations that they saw a gathering of police officers assault the school lodging in the early long periods of March 1, last year, taking the missing understudy Rajan and another understudy Joseph P. Chali away in a police van. They said the police “captured” Rajan when he returned to the inn in the wake of partaking in the college ‘B’ zone expressions celebration.
Equity Poti said the general enthusiasm for the oral proof prompted the end that Rajan was assumed the morning of March 1, 1976, from the school lodging by the police and was seen later under police care at Kakkayam traveler cabin where he was exposed to torment by six cops, including a sub-controller. The High Court requested Rajan to be produced on April 21, 1977, as it has been demonstrated that Rajan was taken into police custody on the first March, 1976. On the off chance that the public authority can’t deliver the kid, they need to educate the court on nineteenth April. All things considered the court will settle on April 23 what steps are to be taken against the respondents, Karunakaran, Home Secretary (Narayanaswamy), I.G. (Rajan), DIG (Padickal) and S.P. (Lakshmanan).
The Kerala government, on April 19, argued failure to create P. Rajan in the court. A notice submitted in the interest of the Chief Minister, the Home Secretary and the I.G. of police, before the Registrar of the Kerala High Court, expressed that Rajan isn’t under care, control or confinement anyplace in the state. The public authority educated the court that all potential advances had been required to follow the missing understudy. The state government has suspended four cops and enrolled a criminal case in such a manner. The decision of the High Court on 23rd is anticipated. The judgment and the procedures have prepared the still, small voice of the young and the understudy local area. The wrecked dad, Prof. Warrier, told journalists he had no desire for his child’s return. In any case, he was proceeding with it so others like him may not meet a similar destiny. 

The mild-mannered school educator who turned out to be just about a clique symbol for basic freedoms activism in Kerala, inhaled his last at a private clinic in Thrissur yesterday. He was 86. Prof TV Eachara Warrier had broken out of his middle class chasing to dig in himself in the Malayali’s aggregate mind, spending right around an entire lifetime in quest for equity after his young child turned into a casualty of police over abundances during the Emergency. For quite a long time since, Warrier’s seething melancholy for his child P Rajan, who was a designing understudy, discovered reverberation in pretty much every domain of the Keralite’s life — from legislative issues to culture and writing to films.
Prof Warrier had shot into the spotlight when he recorded a habeas corpus request in the Kerala High Court looking for that the police produce his child whom they had detracted from his school lodging. The disclosures afterward, including how Rajan was mercilessly tormented to death and his body discarded by the cops in a dam’s repository shook Kerala like nothing had, previously or after. A setback was K Karunakaran, the then Home Minister, who needed to stop office and would never truly shake off that pollutant. Karunakaran later lost his Chief Minister’s seat too, after the High Court didn’t extradite him of the duty regarding the torment demise of Rajan. Despite the fact that Warrier kept on lamenting for his child till his last days, there still can’t seem to be an authority clarification for what truly befell Rajan, aside from conditional proof.
Warrier went through the most recent 30 years meandering from one court to another and the passageways of force, attempting to ensure that no dad would need to go through a similar injury. His State Sahitya Academy Award-winning life account, A Father’s Memoirs, was an enormous hit in Kerala.

Facts

The applicant was the resigned Hindi teacher in the Government Arts and Science College. His solitary child, Rajan was a last year understudy in the Regional Engineering College, Calicut. He was a brilliant understudy during his scholarly period and never enjoyed any sort of political action. During the public crisis time frame, Rajan was taken into the Police care while he was remaining in the school lodging and the police had not spread the word about his whereabouts. The Principal of the school educated the solicitor about this occurrence through an enlisted letter. In any case, because of the public crisis, the appeals court doesn’t have the option to see his child. He made portrayals to the specialists which he did with no outcome. After the public crisis was lifted, Rajan’s dad recorded a writ request in the High Court to permit him to see his child. 

Petitioner’s Contention

The candidate expressed that his child was a brilliant understudy, a legitimacy grant, a radio artist and entertainer. He never enjoyed any sort of political movement. The cops captured Rajan unintentionally. 

Respondent’s Contention

The respondent expressed that Rajan isn’t under authority or confinement anyplace in the state. The Government has suspended four police officers and enlisted a criminal case in such a manner. The Government will find all the conceivable ways to follow the missing understudy. 

Observation

It was seen that Rajan never enjoyed any sort of political action. The two observers expressed that Rajan was captured by the cops. Rajan’s dad battled that they knew about the child’s vanishing while the police recorded a counter-oath renouncing the capture. Obviously he was under the care of the police.

Judgement

The Hon’ble Kerala High Court held that the police officers were liable because they used their powers excessively and abused it. The court ordered the police to find Rajan. Several police officers were sentenced to life imprisonment.