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Justice delayed is a cremation denied

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

Ten years he guarded his son's desiccated body. On Monday, Kunhan Thankappan, finally relinquished the body, handing it over to the flames that were cheated of it a decade ago. Thankappan was satisfied that justice was finally being done after he assured himself the Central Bureau of Investigation was on the right track.

At the cremation, former Supreme Court judge Justice V R Krishna Iyer gave him a cheque of Rs 100,000, a third of the compensation sanctioned by the Kerala high court in January 1997. Not quite enough, though, to cover the money he's borrowed to fund his crusade.

The body of Gopi, kept in a tomb, was taken out in the presence of a large number of people, including social activists and legal luminaries, and cremated in accordance with Hindu rituals on Monday.

The compensation had been withheld following a Kerala government appeal against the high court order. The court sanctioned an interim award on Thankappan's plea in the case involving the death of Gopi, 24, in October 1988.

Gopi was arrested by the Cherthala police, Alappuzha district, on October 4, in connection with the theft of a tape recorder. The police charged that though someone else had stolen the tape recorder, it was with Gopi. Though the accused pleaded innocence, he was kept in custody till his death on October 7.

Thankappan, who had gone to see Gopi at the police station on October 6, found him covered with bruises. He received a telegram the next day that the youth had committed suicide and that the body was kept at the Alappuzha medical college mortuary. The death came a week before the marriage of Thankappan's daughter.

The old man decided to protect the body until the facts were revealed. The local police and the crime branch too quickly termed it a suicide and closed the case.

Thankappan believes his son was tortured to death by two constables, one of whom was their neighbour. He pursued the case in the court and, in January 1997, the high court handed the case over to the CBI.

The cost has been tremendous, monetarily, physically and socially. After spending all his savings, Thankappan, who used to work at a toddy shop, mortgaged his house and land to raise funds. There was a move to auction the property recently, since he had not repaid his loans. The compensation will not cover the loan.

The police kept mounting pressure on him to get rid of the body, as did the locals. The old man, in the seventies now, obstinately sat guard over the body.

Though the CBI investigation is believed to be on the right track, Thankappan is canny enough not to think that the legal battle is over. The old man, who has problem in hearing. is prepared to forsake whatever he has, to bring to book those he believes killed his son.

Incidentally, the two accused policemen were dismissed from service in connection with certain other cases.

If Thankappan has backing in his legal battle, it is from Father George Pulikuttil, a Christian priest with a law degree, who has been conducting the court case free of cost.

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