Thiruvananthapuram: Popular Front terrorist, Savad Meerankutty, went incognito for the last thirteen years after chopping off the right hand of Professor TJ Joseph on July 4, 2010. While everyone in Kerala was speculating about Savad’s whereabouts – some even suggested that he went to Syria to fight alongside the dreaded ISIS – he was quietly living a life of a carpenter in Kannur, which is known to be the strong bastion of the communist party.
However, after the news of Savad’s arrest had spread, the Professor told the media that the victim of a crime will never get justice. He also made a strong statement to the press that the real culprits are not the ones that the court had sentenced nor is it Savad. Professor TJ Joseph said that those who sent the terrorists to cut off his hand were the real culprits and that they will always be out of reach. No one even knows who they are.
He added that sentencing the culprits will only serve the law of the land but the victim will never get justice.
It took the National Investigation Agency (NIA) thirteen long years to finally nab the terrorist and bring him to justice. While the Kerala police was dancing to the tune of the two main political fronts, Savad had escaped to Bengaluru. He is said to have then lived in Mangalore at a place called Ullal, which is near the border with Kasaragod.
Savad also got married in the meantime and had two children. He is said to have made up a story that he was an orphan to marry a girl from a poor family. The PFI terrorist was living at Mattannur in Kannur district, with his family, working as a carpenter for the last five months and earning Rs.1,200 daily wage, according to a report.
While all this was happening, the victim, Professor TJ Joseph, was living a life in hell. The Newman College, where he worked as professor, disowned him and threw him out of his job. The Christian church was visibly shaken by the whole incident and Kerala seemed to be on the verge of a communal split. The church was too afraid to stand with the victim during his time of distress and abandoned him.
The professor’s misery did not stop at that. In 2014, his wife, Salomi, who was his greatest support and the prime witness in the crime, committed suicide, leaving him and his two children behind. Salomi who was suffering from depression, could not bear the financial insecurity of her family after Joseph was dismissed from service.
Even though, other accused in the case have been sentenced by the court to varying years in prison, Savad was the main accused. For media and the common people, Savad was the final link to put a closure to the case that haunted Kerala for the past thirteen years. Once Savad is finally in prison, we all can breathe an air of relief, imagining that justice has been finally served.
However, the professor’s words must linger in our ears – the victim of a crime will never get justice. And we must be always aware that the real culprits behind such incidents are the ones who take decisions in the comfort of darkness.
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