Protest brews in Kerala as five held for murdering SSLC student allowed to take exam at juvenile home

The five minor students held in connection with the incident are kept at the juvenile home and the juvenile justice board allowed them to write their exams.

Thiruvananthapuram: Protests brewed in Kerala after five students accused of murdering a 15-year-old boy from their tuition centre were allowed to take the Kerala SSLC exams that began on Monday.

Various student outfits along with the deceased teenager's family raised objection to the accused being allowed to write exams, which the victim was also supposed to take.

The death of Mohammed Shahabas, a class 10 student hailing from Thamarasserry in the suburbs of Kozhikode district in north Kerala, is snowballing into a major row owing to the political, criminal and police links of the parents of the accused. Shahabas, who suffered serious head injury in the attack by five students of his tuition centre on February 27 over some petty issues, succumbed to the injuries on March 1.

The five minor students held in connection with the incident are kept at the juvenile home and the juvenile justice board allowed them to take their exams. Considering chances of protest, arrangements for the exam were made at the juvenile home itself.

Deceased student Shahabas's father Iqbal told the media that it would send a wrong message to the society that those who were held for murder were allowed to write exams "the next day itself."

Students and youth outfits affiliated to the Congress and other opposition parties demonstrated in front of the juvenile home. The activists who tried to barge into the juvenile home were forcefully removed by police.

The police are also probing the involvement of the father of the key accused in the murder of Shahabas. The prime accused's father was involved in criminal cases and was alleged to have nexus with CPM activists. 'Nunchaku' used for attacking the student was recovered from the prime accused's house. Three of the students held were also found to be involved in a criminal case earlier. One of the students is the son of a police driver.

An argument over stopping music during a farewell programme at the tuition centre is said to have resulted in the killing.