Family members bidding adieu to Kavilpurayidam Joy at his ancestral home at Chembanoda in Kozhikode on Thursday. more-in District Collector U.V. Jose on Thursday suspended Chembanoda village officer C.A. Sunny and village assistant Sileesh Thomas from service after a quick department-level inquiry conducted into the reasons that led to the suicide of Kavilpurayidathil Joy, 57, a settler farmer from Chakkittappara grama panchayat. Mr. Jose issued the order after holding conciliation talks with the farmers who prevented the police from shifting the body of the victim to Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital for post-mortem in the morning. Till 10.30 a.m., no one was allowed to touch the body, which was found hanging in the Chembanoda village office, as the agitated farmers stood for on-the-spot action against the responsible revenue officers who reportedly denied collecting land tax from him and sought financial favours for clearing the files. Collector’s assurance They withdrew from the protest only after securing an assurance from the Collector that the pending files of the farmer would be cleared at the earliest, besides considering government job opportunity for one of the family members. The protesters stormed the area alleging that the Revenue Department officers from the Chembanoda office were acting insensitively to their pleas even after several round of discussions held with the top-level revenue authorities to clear the pending disputes over accepting land tax in the village. They alleged that the village officials favoured only those who appeased them with bribes. Soon after the Collector’s intervention, the body was moved to the medical college hospital for post-mortem. The funeral ceremony was held at St. Joseph’s Church, Chembanoda, by around 7.30 p.m. People’s representatives, local body heads and leaders of various farm organisations paid their last respect. Alleging government apathy in redressing farmers’ grievances, Congress workers observed a dawn-to-dusk hartal at Chakkittappara panchayat. “We are very much hurt as all the accused officers in the incident are from our own village and very much familiar with the farmers’ turmoil and their struggle for existence. Joy resorted to the extreme step by around 9 p.m. on Wednesday as all of them threw out his repeated pleas to accept the land tax and sought financial favours,” said K. George, a farmer from the area and an office-bearer of the We Farm. He said the settler farmer was badly in need of money for the marriage of his youngest daughter and he wanted to mobilise it by selling his property after clearing all the tax payment formalities. Johnson Kulathingal, a settler farmer and general secretary of the Janadhipathya Karshaka Union, alleged that a few corrupt officials in Kozhikode’s remote villages were taking advantage of the farmers’ ignorance on various revenue-related formalities. “Only a very few are capable of challenging them directly and try to expose them in the public through the legal way,” he pointed out. Case registered The Peruvannamoozhi police have registered a case under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in connection with the death of Joy. The case will be investigated by Perambra circle inspector K.P. Sunil Kumar. Mr. Sunny and Mr. Thomas will be questioned by the investigators on Friday.

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