Migrant Labourer Lynched In Kerala

By Countercurrents.org

05 May, 2016
Countercurrents.org

A migrant labourer from Assam died in Kerala after a group of people tied him up and beat him, reportedly mistaking him for a thief. The incident took place in Chingavanam of Kottayam district between 12 noon and 1pm Wednesday. The victim Kailas Jyothy Behra (30) is from Kandara village in Assam.

Kailash reached Kottayam by Vivek Express in the early hours of Wednesday from Assam with two friends, Roopam Gogoi and Gokul Gogi. They later went to Poovanthuruth industrial area to look for work, where he got separated from his friends.

Times of India reported quoting police officials that while wandering in the Chingavanam locality some people mistook him for a thief and hit him. Later he was found hiding inside the bathroom of a house. People pelted stones at him but he refused to run away. As the number of people swelled he ran inside a house. But people followed and caught him. He was then beaten up after his hands were tied with a plastic rope and hands with a towel. He was left lying in the open sun in searing heat for one hour. The attackers themselves intimated the incident to the Chingavanam police.

In the meantime, Kailash’s friends reached Chingavanam police station to report that Kailash was missing. When the policemen and the other two migrants reached the spot, Kailash was seen in a critical condition.

Dr. Sithara , the RMO of district hospital said Behra was brought dead to the hospital around 1.50 pm.

The police have registered a case of unnatural death.

Hundreds of thousands of people from almost all states of India are working as migrant labourers in Kerala. According to government estimates as many as 2500000 migrant labourers are working in Kerala. They flock to Kerala because of the higher wages they earn in the state. However, the living conditions of most of these labourers are pathetic.

Many people in Kerala look down upon these poor labourers with suspicion. Mass media and popular films too have played their part in inculcating this behavior towards these labourers.

It is the neo-liberal policies followed by the governments of past two decades that severed these people from their lands and forced them to mass migration to cities and to states like Kerala.