The Thiruvananthapuram Senior District Sessions Magistrate, Mr. K.Narayana Menon, has been suspended from office until the departmental enquiry into the Chala riots is completed and appropriate decision has been taken thereon. The suspension is just another link in the chain of revenge forged by God as punishment for someone who made the accused in the unfortunate Chala clashes suffer for almost a year for no mistake of theirs. There are many instances where the High Court has passed orders against the judgment of a Sessions Judge. However, the Sessions Judge, who passed the judgment within the capacity of his intellectual as well as discretionary powers, should not have fallen prey to such a misfortune. Hot on the heels of the Sessions court pronouncing its judgment on the Chala riot case, Mr. Menon was promoted as a senior judge with a hike of Rs.100/- in his pay. Now, consequent upon the adverse remarks in the High Court judgment about Mr. Menon’s action, what he got was suspension from his job! Stupefying divine intervention! What else shall one say about it? However, if Mr. Menon alone is made to suffer the divine punishment, it will be a great injustice from the side of the government. Even though the High Court ordered criminal prosecution against the Police Assistant Superintendent Mr. Swaminatha Sastri, who allegedly either forged evidence or destroyed it, what the government did was to remove him from the job for the time being. A pat on his shoulders after rendering himself incapable of doing justice was the disdainful thing that the government did!

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People living near the Kalpaalakkadavu Bridge, from where a canal has been dug to Thiruvallam, have a serious complaint about sanitation work in the canal. They have produced petitions about their grievances before the corporation committee constituted for sanitation work as well. Since filth and excreta collected from different parts of the city by the sanitation workers are deposited near the aforementioned bridge, the people living in its vicinity are made to suffer unspeakable hardships. Instead of ordering an inquiry into public grievances like this, the committee president Division Peshkar (Revenue Division Officer,) Dr. Subramania Aiyer, seems to be interested only in persecuting the health officer Mr. Kesava Rao and others on flimsy grounds. It may be recalled that in the Chala riot case Mr. Kesava Rao had deposed against the Police Assistant Superintendent Swaminatha Sastri who happens to be the son-in- law of Dr. Subramania Aiyer. We do not know how people’s wellbeing will be taken care of if government officials, who live on people’s money, happen to be pleasure seekers. The government must take immediate action to find a lasting solution to the grievance of the people mentioned at the outset. It is indispensable for running a nation in a just and proper manner.

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At the Civil General Hospital in Rangoon (text missing)