Minors in conflict with the law: A party, a street fight, and the death of a Kerala boy Premium

The death of Mohammed Shahabaz, a Class 10 student in Kozhikode district, from injuries he had sustained during a street fight between students and the arrest of six students raises worries about minors in conflict with the law

With his hands folded and eyes partly closed, Mohammed Iqbal, 47, is immersed in prayer. Clad in a white shirt and dhoti at his ancestral home in Thamarassery, a village in Kerala’s Kozhikode district, Iqbal is at a religious ritual for the third day. He is mourning the death of his eldest son, Mohammed Shahabaz, 15. When he starts chanting prayers, tears roll down his cheeks. His relatives stand around him. “His wife and three children have not accepted the fact that Shahabaz is no more,” one of them says.

Iqbal, who had toiled for years as a daily wage labourer abroad, says his eldest son was really smart. “He performed well in school. He would make electronic toys. He loved playing sports. He always took care of his younger siblings. I couldn’t even buy him a mobile phone, as I was short of money,” he says. Iqbal vows to fight until death to secure justice for his son.

Shahabaz, a Class 10 student at a government-aided school at Elettil village, died on March 1 after he was brutally assaulted during a clash between two groups of teenagers at Thamarassery in Kozhikode on February 27. His death led to widespread protests by the Youth Congress, the Kerala Students’ Union, and the Muslim Students Federation, among others. These organisations allege that Shahabaz was murdered and that there was a conspiracy behind his death. The Kerala government described the incident as “unfortunate” and said a comprehensive investigation would be conducted. The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights also registered a suo motu case on the incident.

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The problem began on February 23, when there was an argument between the students of two schools — Muhammedali Jauhar Higher Secondary School, Elettil; and Government Vocational Higher Secondary School, Thamarassery — at Trizz, a local training centre in Thamarassery, according to trainers at the centre. There was a farewell party for Class 10 students from the two schools that day at the centre. When the music that was being played for a dance performance at the party stopped due to technical glitches, students from the Thamarassery school laughed, and this led to a heated argument between the students of the two schools, say trainers.

The students met again on February 27 at the centre. “Shahabaz was not a student at Trizz, but he came to the spot along with his friends from the Muhammedali School to settle scores with the students from Thamarassery,” says a trainer. Witnesses say the first clash between the two groups took place along a dingy corridor of a building complex near the tuition centre. When the locals intervened, the students moved to other spots. They clashed four times in front of about 50 students at the centre, say locals.

“The students from both the schools began assembling near the tuition centre at around 4.30 in the evening. The clash broke out around 5.30 and went on till 7,” recall Siddique and Shukkur, two tea shop owners who saw the brawl. According to them, after the students fought the first time, teachers from the tuition centre intervened and forced the students to disperse.