Kerala man was beaten to death by 'moral police' two years ago, family still awaits justice

Prabhakaran of Cherppulassery in Palakkad district was beaten to death by a 11-member gang while he was returning from a woman’s house.

news Moral Policing

For the family of 55-year-old Prabhakaran, who was a victim of a moral policing incident in Kerala two years ago, the elusive search for justice continues to this day.

“They killed my husband two years ago, all of the accused walked out freely in front of us. The loss is only ours, he was the sole breadwinner in our family,” says Premakumari, Prabhakaran’s wife.

There are 11 accused in the case and police have not yet filed a charge sheet.

Prabhakaran of Cherppulassery in Palakkad district was beaten to death by a 11-member gang while he was returning from a woman’s house.

The gang alleged that the man was found in the woman’s house “under suspicious circumstances”.

“This woman was our neighbour earlier. Since her husband was abroad, she used to call us for every help. My husband was a daily wage labourer and he used to go for work when this woman built a new house. He helped her because he was paid for that. She used to call us whenever some work is to be done. That day, she had asked him to get a used motor to pump water from her pond. He had arranged that and had gone to her house to get the money. Since he goes for work, he could go to her house only at 7pm in the evening,” Premakumari said, recalling the day she lost her husband.

Pointing out the recent incident where a youngster committed suicide after a moral policing incident, Premakumari asks, “Is killing someone moralistic? So in these cases, who is really breaching the morality?”

Prabhakaran was beaten to death on February 16, 2015 at around 7 pm. “That night he did not come home, we were all scared as we did not know what had happened to him. It was only next morning that people told us his body was found in the farmland near the woman’s house which is about one kilometre away from our house,” Premakumari says, in tears.

Prabhakaran was the only breadwinner in the family as Premakumari is suffering from physical ailments. After his death, his 21-year-old son had to stop his studies and was forced to go for daily wage labour.

“My son has left his studies and now goes for work to repay our huge debts. He (Prabhakaran) was a very good person, he looked after the family very well. How could they call him immoral,” she asks.

She added that many people had insulted her after the incident linking it to her caste.

“We belong to Dalit community, people think that it is okay to harass Dalits. Nobody is there for our support as we face a kind of ostracism in the society. Police have not included the charge of Atrocities against Dalits in this case,” she alleged.

When The News Minute asked the Cherupplassery police about who was in charge of the enquiry, they said that initial investigators have been transferred and a new team has taken up the case and a charge sheet will be filed soon.

“Since it is a case of moral policing, whoever we approach has a notion that somewhere, the victim might have committed a crime. Nobody will understand the pain until it happens to themselves,” says Prabhakaran’s brother-in-law Mohandas.

Pic courtesy : Asianet News