Kafir screenshot case: Court intervenes again as Vadakara police sit on forensic tests of phones

Kozhikode: Muslim Students Federation (MSF) leader Muhammad Khasim PK, targeted by a communal 'kafir' message falsely attributed to him during the Vadakara Lok Sabha election, has once again taken the Kerala Police to court for delaying the investigation.

On Friday, November 8, the Vadakara Judicial First Class Magistrate Court Judge Sheeja AM directed the Vadakara police to submit the investigation report and updates on the forensic examination of mobile phones linked to the fake screenshot circulation.

The judge asked the police to submit these reports by November 22, when Khasim’s petition will be heard again, said Adv Mohammed Shah, the counsel representing Khasim.

The Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the mother organisation of MSF, had decided to go to the root of the kafir screenshot after the CPM used the fake message to accuse the UDF of running a communal campaign in Vadakara.

Muslim League State Secretary Parakkal Abdulla, leading the legal fight in the Kafir case, said that from the beginning of this highly sensitive case, the investigative officers had taken a stance to protect the actual culprits. "This compelled Khasim to approach the High Court and fight a legal battle to prove his innocence," he said.

On May 31, Khasim approached the High Court seeking a direction to the police to conduct a fair investigation. After hearing the petition for three months and calling for a status report from police several times, the High Court closed the case on September 9.

But Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas directed the Vadakara police to expedite forensic tests on mobile phones to trace the origin of the message and swiftly conclude the investigation. Justice Thomas, while closing the petition, said Khasim could approach the Vadakara magistrate court at any time if he believed the investigation was veering off course or if there were any shortcomings in the police's efforts.

"Two months after the high court order, the police have made no progress in the investigation," said Khasim. Six months have passed since the screenshot hit Vadakara, yet the investigative team has not filed a charge sheet or listed the accused in the case.

It appeared that the police had hit a roadblock after finding that DFYI's Vadakara Block Committee president, Ribesh RS, was one of the earliest persons to share the fake screenshot.

Ribesh, who is also a school teacher, however, told police that he could not reveal the source of the screenshot. Police impounded his mobile phone for a forensic test. "It's been two months since the police informed the court that the phones were sent for forensic test. There is no report, though the initial deadline was two weeks," said Abdulla.

He said the police testified before the High Court that they could not find any evidence connecting Khasim to the screenshot. "But the police do not even have the decency to withdraw the FIR filed against him," he said.

The police had booked him under the stringent Section 153 A of the IPC for allegedly promoting enmity between different religious groups based on a complaint filed by a CPM leader.

In contrast, the police did not name any person in the complaint filed by UDF and invoked Section 468 (forgery for cheating) and Section 471 (using a forged document as genuine) of the IPC only after the intervention of the High Court.