Rajan case

The Rajan case refers to the death of P. Rajan, a student of the erstwhile Regional Engineering College, Calicut, as a result of torture in local police custody in Kerala during the nationwide Emergency in India in 1976, and the legal battle that followed, which brought out the facts of the incident to the public. His remains are yet to be recovered.

During the nationwide Emergency in India between 1975 and 1977 Fundamental Rights of the citizen were suspended by the government, hence creating a period of police activism. In Kerala, the Naxal movement was at its peak during this period. Major operations of Naxals in Kerala were attacks on police stations in rural areas. The police acted with vengeance upon the Naxalites and used the word Naxal to address those upon whom they had vengeance.

Rajan, a student of the Calicut Regional Engineering College (presently the National Institute of Technology Calicut), was arrested by the Kerala Police on March 1, 1976, during the nationwide Emergency in India along with his fellow student, Joseph Chaly, who later suffered imprisonment for 9 months, for alleged Naxal association. As was later revealed by a petition in the High Court of Kerala, he was held in police custody and tortured as part of the interrogation. He died from torture of extreme kind, especially due to something called uruttal (a practice of "rolling" a heavy wooden log over the body of the victim). His body was then disposed of by the police, and was never recovered.

Rajan's father, T. V. Eachara Warrier, complained to the authorities about his missing son. The police finally confirmed that he died in custody upon a habeas corpus suit, the first such suit in the history of Kerala, filed by his father in the High Court of Kerala.

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