Chapter 16 in the courts

Early next morning   Renjith woke up and prepared the Preliminary case bulletin a and emailed it to sanju.

Sanju was stunned at the  detail encased in the bulletin what shocked him even more was  that Renjith wanted to apply chapters of the IPC  not sections as in other cases

These chapters where as follows

Chapter VI sections 122 thru 130 except sections 125 and 126

Chapter V A section 120B

Chapter V sections 107 thru120

Chapter VIII Sections 153,153A, 153B

Chapter XV Section 295,295A thru 298

Also including chapters XVI, XVII & XXII

Sanju elaborated on the bulletin and registered the case in the Supreme Court            

The case was to be heard by the Honorable court on the next day

To say that the case caused a stir would be putting it very lightly

The case caused a shockwave in the media an article in a leading

Newspaper summed it up the best it red “malabar 1920 a rebellion or a riot? New case set to ask haunting questions on the so called rebellion”

The  court room was  nothing short of  a tether  with prosecution counsel  Sanju tearing in  to  the defence  lead by some of  the  most  eminent lawyers of the  land 

The defence  was trying its best to get the whole case quashed  citing the same doubts that had haunted sanju but the  defense  counsel made strong arguments to the  counter

The drama was not only limited to the court room the hashtag #Justiceformalabr was the top trending in twitter for the duration of the case

Both Renjith and sanju found themselves at the center of a lot of attention both good and bad

Mostly bad since they had dared to take on the system they often ridiculed by a section of the media

The situation in the court room was also not that different for sanju everything that he had earned and got was on the line

The defense was stooping to new lows every day it even went till the extant to call the evidence presented by sanju as false and fabricated 

With almost borderline personal attacks but through all these two men stood firm and also had the support of their respective families

But on the other hand they were hailed as the defenders of the truth by most of the rightwing leaning section of both the mainstream print and social media

Such was the  Public  interest generated by the case that the court not only  forwent its winter brake but also constituted a special bench  headed by the chief justice of  India  to hear the case   at Calicut the  central  government  on advice  of the attorney general and consolation with the supreme court upgraded this  bench to a judicial commission it  was  known as the   Malabar commission

The commission through its special reporter Mrs. Sheba the commission poured over mountains of archival material as most of the victimized   families was long dispersed 

It was hard and long process and to add to that the resistance encountered by the reporter   in areas affected by the riots from the local population was enormous

And in some places violent  but the special  roving reputure  made submitted the her report to the chair of the commission at Calicut  on the 6^th of November  2017

the commission further  submitted its findings  to the court  the Honrable court communicated that he final verdict  would be passed on the 20^th of November 2017

Both Renjith and sanju were by now   media darlings and were comfortable with the media glare that this case had bought in to their lives   but behind it all both men were

Nervous wrecks on the impending   final verdict of the case on the day of the verdict the   both the parties were present at the court and the Honrable bench red out the verdict

“Let it be known that in the Renjith Sachindra Raman Nair V/s others case 

Case 2021/12/2017delivered on the 20^th day of the 11th month of the year 2017

The honorable court delivers the following judgement

That the defense  having failed  to convince the court comprehensively on the non-validity of the  case  the  court  took up the case and after  much  thought and deliberation  have  come to the conclusion in the light of the  report of the commission  thus constituted along  with the  special additional report  by the commissions  special roving reputure who visited the said areas

The court orders that following measures be taken

1.      the victims  of the  said rebellion  be remembered  through a memorial

2.      a complete database be  made of the  victims

3.      the  state government remove the status of freedom fighters  from any remaining members   actually involved in the said  rebellion

4.      the political parties in question  are to  delete all reference to the said rebellion as part of the wider national struggle

5.      the victims families shall be paid a onetime payment of 10 cores as compensation payment

6.      all  properties thus found to be illegally claimed and  legalized post-independence remains quashed the lands are to  be  returned back to the descendants of the said  family albite under norms of the  land ceiling acts in force

Finally the court would like to put on record its appreciation for both Mr Renjith and Mrs. Sheba for their respective dedication in their fields 

The court also likes to make a special mention of its appreciation of both the defense and prosecution lawyers for their spirited defense of their respective case

The court stands adjourned in the case

The following verdict came as a shock to the establishment in the malabar region overnight many “rich” Families lost their houses and estates as the effects of the case were discussed surprisingly even on   Pakistani news channels with a certain Hamid crying horses about the how the Hindu banyan has struck once again and how unjust India was to his brethren

While all this was happening Renjith was sound asleep in his home in the arms of victory and safe in the knowledge that he had won his war for justice not only for his family but particularly for his grand old man

But little did he know that the grand old man had passed him the mettle of the chief of the family that night