Kozhikode Special Additional Sessions Court has acquitted all the 17 accused in the sensational Thuneri Shibin murder case that triggered a riot-like- situation at Nadapuram in which dozens of houses were burnt and vandalised in January 2015. Setting the accused free, all of them Congress-Muslim League workers, the court observed that the prosecution failed to prove charges levelled against them.
The prosecution had listed 18 youths as accused. The trial of one of the accused is underway in a juvenile court.
The prosecution had alleged that the murder was politically and communally motivated. But it failed to prove the charges against the accused. It could not produce credible witnesses from near the site of the murder.
Shibin, 19, a worker of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the CPM, was stabbed to death on January 22, 2015. A ten-member gang attacked the youth and stabbed him to death. Soon after the incident, violence erupted in various parts of Nadapuram in which nearly 70 houses were torched and many vandalised forcing the police to impose prohibitory orders there. Nadapuram, a very sensitive area that witnessed a series violence between the CPM and the Muslim League, remained tense for months after the incident.
Shibin's family members expressed their deep disappointment over the verdict. "We didn't get justice. We are planning approach the High Court against the trial court verdict," Bhaskaran, the victims father said.
