Comrade Bala, who enslaved daughter for 30 yrs, dies in London jail

London: Aravindan Balakrishnan, 81, hailing from Mayyanad in Kollam district, better known as "Comrade Bala", died in London while undergoing imprisonment at Dartmoor Jail. 

He was undergoing a jail sentence for committing extreme torture on many women, including his daughter, for years together.

Once the London court found him guilty in 2016 for six counts of indecent assault, four counts of rape and two counts of actual bodily harm, he was sentenced to death for a period of 23 years.         

Aravindan left Kerala at the age of 8 years for Singapore where his father was working in the British Army. 

After completing his graduation in Singapore, he migrated to Britain. He then took a degree from the London School of Economics. It is there that he met Chanda, whom he married in 1969 at about the time he began his collective.

Aravindan later formed a secret Maoist Commune at the Workers' Institute of Marxism–Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought in London.. Soon, he began a campaign that the British Government was a fascist set-up and his attempt was to overthrow it.

He first enrolled Malaysian-origin nurses in his organisation. Many got attracted to his leadership. But Comrade Bala assiduously made his followers slaves and tortured them continuously for years. He managed to do this by making his followers believe that he had transcendental powers.                 

But to the astonishment of all, his daughter Kyatti Morgan Davis, who managed to escape from his slavery camp after 30 years, narrated to the outside world the cruelties of her father. After being subjected to such cruelty, she was literally in a state of devastation when she revealed everything to the world.    

The daughter described her situation in court as "horrible, dehumanising and degrading".

Sentencing Balakrishnan in January 2016, the judge said: "You decided to treat her as a project, not a person. You claimed to do it for her to protect her from the outside world, but you created a cruel environment."

Kyatti's mother was Siyan Davis. Comrade Bala had another wife named Chanda.        

Scotland Yard raided the couple's flat in Brixton, south London, in November 2013 after two followers had called the Palm Cove Society charity seeking help.

Balakrishnan had denied charges of rape and told the jury that he was the focus of competition between jealous women who made sexual advances at him.

The sentencing followed a lengthy investigation into a case which Scotland Yard detectives described as completely unique.

Detective chief superintendent Tom Manson, from the Metropolitan Police's Organised Crime Command, said at the time: "It seems extraordinary that Balakrishnan could command such control over so many people, however all of the victims have told us in great detail that they very much believed his claims of power and greatness and the threats he made to them. They all described feelings of fear and being totally controlled him.

"All of the women have faced huge challenges in adapting to day-to-day life since they left Balakrishnan's control but with the support of a number of charities and professionals are making exceptional progress and their bravery deserves recognition and praise, he added.

Comrade Bala, who was an ardent fan of Mao and Pol Pot, used to tell his followers that they should celebrate the news of the death of any anti-Communist.