The proposed Munsiff Magistrate Court at Attappady will begin functioning from December 2. The High Court has asked Palakkad District Judge Ananthakrishna Navada to oversee the launch of the court, including the shifting of cases to the new court, being set up at a building vacated by the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) at Agali, Attappady.
Although indexing of files has begun at Mannarkkad Munsiff Magistrate court, the appointment of a magistrate, prosecutor and staff from criminal and civil sides will be made soon. The inaugural formalities will be decided later. Officials said either the Chief Minister or the High Court Chief Justice would inaugurate the court.
The Attappady court is becoming a reality after many years of apathy and politicking, though it was a crying need for the hilly and remote Attappady region. With two police stations catering to 192 tribal settlements spread over a vast forested hilly area bordering Tamil Nadu, Attappady cases were being handled by the Munsiff Magistrate Court at Mannarkkad. For a litigant from a place like Varadimala near Sholayur, it takes 89 kilometres of rough ride to reach Mannarkkad.
For majority of tribespeople in Attappady, juridical justice remained a distant dream because of this remoteness. In spite of the High Court giving top priority to Attappady among the 53 new courts proposed across the State, there remained a stiff opposition for the court from different sections. Criminal mafias focusing on Attappady tried their best to scuttle the court. A Munsiff-Magistrate Court in Attappady was feared to harm the interests of the mafias that thrive by exploiting the Adivasis of the region. No political parties favoured the new court. Judicial officers, prosecutors and lawyers too shunned Attappady because of its remoteness.
Although former District Collector D. Balamurali sanctioned the ITDP building in June 2019, it took more than four years for the authorities to set the ball rolling. The court project remained stuck at fragile and silly impediments raised by vested parties. Strangely, lack of a ramp was one of the reasons cited for delaying the court. Former District Judge Kalam Pasha was learned to have displayed no interest in opening the court in spite of it being the prime priority among the 53 new courts.
The Victims Information, Sensitisation, Welfare and Assistance Society (VISWAS), a Palakkad-based voluntary organization working for the welfare of the victims of excesses and crimes, had relentlessly campaigned for the court at Attappady. With the setting up of the new court, there will be an enhanced legal watch over Attappady.
