Court verdict brings wounds of Kerala’s Muthanga land agitation back into focus

Sivan Yogi was just 14 when he accompanied his father, Yogi (Jogi), to the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary in Wayanad, Kerala, where hundreds of landless Adivasi families occupied forest land in January 2003, to assert their right to land. More than a month later, the agitation ended in a violent confrontation between Adivasi protesters and the Kerala Police on February 19, 2003, leaving Jogi and K.V. Vinod, a police constable, dead .

The Muthanga land agitation has returned to the limelight after the Kalpetta Principal Sessions Court, on July 31, acquitted all the accused who stood trial, including social activist M. Geethanandan, in the case relating to the murder of Vinod. However, it convicted Geethanandan and three others on related charges, including attempting to murder a senior police constable, abducting a Forest Range Officer and criminal conspiracy, sentencing each of them to five years of rigorous imprisonment.