Varghese Encounter Death Case

The verdict on the Varghese death case in Kerala, one of the earliest encounter deaths in independent India, affirms, four decades after the event, the right of an arrested person not to be tortured or killed. The bipolar polity in existence in Kerala for years, with the left holding sway over the intelligentsia, has ensured that independent judgments are hard to come by in the case of human rights violations. The extra-parliamentary efforts to ensure at least a semblance of justice are left to committed individuals or splinter groups.