Pathanamthitta communal riot and attack to Sabarimala devotees; Nine Jihadis convicted

Pathanamthitta additional magistrate court convicted 9 NDF (Erstwhile organization of SDPI) jihadis, for instigating communal violence, attacking sabarimala ayyappa devotees and set fire to BJP district office Mararji Bhavan.

In 2001 December 6 night, Over 30 shops, a cinema hall and two fuel-filling stations were attacked and 15 buses damaged in the Pathanamthitta municipal town limits when a violent mob of notorious Islamic terror outfit instigated and unleashed terror. The BJP district office, Mararji Bhavan, at Kannankara, was also set afire by jihadi mob, reducing the files, furniture and other articles in it to ashes.Many Sabarimala devotees were injured in the attack. The jihadi mob who unleashed terror in the peaceful Sabarimala hill temple district headquarters even surrounded the Dy.SP, Mr. R. Ramachandran Nair, who tried to stop them at around 1 a.m. The Dy.Sp, who somehow managed to escape from the mob, had to fire into the air to disperse them.

Then Chief Minister of Kerala had vouched the involvement of major political parties in the Pathanamthitta communal riot.He said that, in the Pthanamthitta riot, Eighty-four arrested were NDF or PDP activists, Five Congress, Three CPI-M and one DYFI. Of the persons absconding in connection with Pathanamthitta riot, Ninety-six were from NDF, Twenty-three PDP, Thirty-three Congress, four CPIM and Eleven DYFI.

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