After 48 days, Justice for Jisha Remains a Slogan

There have been many ‘developments’ in the investigation but very little that counts as real progress.

It has been 48 days since Jisha, a 30-year-old law student, was raped and brutally murdered in Perumbavoor, Kerala, on April 28. There have been ‘developments’ galore but almost little that counts as real progress in the case.

Her case has been a trail of multiple stories, all of which have spiralled into nothing as the glaring media limelight refuses to diminish. The ‘new developments’ seldom appear to be related or followed up on.

Six days after the murder, the police reportedly released a sketch of a suspect based on eyewitness accounts. However, they refused to provide clarification on the same when sought.

This would be the first of three inconclusive sketches that the police would release in the course of the investigation.

Prejudiced generalisation led to fingers being pointed at migrant labourers, simply because Perumbavoor has many.

Again faced with a lack of real leads, news reports on May 9 featured a new ‘twist’ where Jisha’s sister Deepa was called in to identify objects seized from their house. Earlier reports had said that the suspected migrant labourer was known to Deepa.

The police detained seven persons including apparently, Jisha’s neighbour, a relative of Jisha’s and his friend, and a migrant labourer who had allegedly hit Jisha’s mother three months ago with a bike. The resulting argument between Jisha and the labourer and the pressure on her family to vacate the house were both explored as reasons for the gruesome assault and murder. However, these trails too lead to dead-ends.

On May 14 though, as the political pressure cooker was heating up due to the upcoming Assembly polls, there were reports that the police had identified a suspect based on bite marks on Jisha’s body and the dental structure of the suspect.

On the same day another report claimed that the police had arrested one Hari Kumar, a Bengali migrant labourer, in connection with the crime. However, both claims remained unconfirmed.

After a small hiatus, the media was fed the juiciest nugget yet – that Jisha was the illegitimate child of the senior Congress leader and United Democratic Front (UDF) convener PP Thankachan. There was no mention of Hari Singh.

Human rights activist Jomon Puthenpurackal submitted a letter to the then chief minister alleging the involvement of Thankachan. While the letter did not mention the politician by name, media speculations continued. It was also alleged that before her death, Jisha had approached the leader asking about her share of the assets.

Puthenpurackal alleged that Jisha’s mother Rajeshwari used to work as a domestic help at Thankachan’s residence for two decades and that Jisha’s body had been burnt so that her paternity could not be contested.

While Jisha’s father said that his wife did work as a domestic help at Thankachan’s house, both Rajeshwari and Thankachan denied Jomon’s claims and threatened legal action against him.

However, like most stories, this one had a limited shelf life too. After almost a month of back and forth, and inconclusive investigations, Pinarayi Vijayan, the newly sworn in chief minister of the state said that the people were quite dissatisfied with how the case was handled and that a new SIT would be constituted.

And so ADGP Sandhya was handed over the baton. About a week later, the team released another sketch of a suspect, the third in the course of the probe. There was no mention or clarification about the previous sketches or arrests or about Thankachan’s involvement.

About a fortnight after the new SIT took over the case, a report in the Open magazine revealed a shocking discrepancy between the police’s estimated time of death and the autopsy’s estimate. If the autopsy report was to be believed, it placed the police’s estimate off the mark by 12-14 hours after the actual murder happened.

Four days ago, the police apparently found CCTV footage which reportedly shows the suspected killer following Jisha. Even then the police remained tight-lipped and details were scarce.

And now the newest twist reveals that Jisha was visited by a woman on the day she died. This woman apparently had a heated argument with her. The police now suspect that Jisha’s last words – “this is why I don’t trust anyone” – were meant for this mysterious woman.

While the police continue to go around in circles and the changes of guard glamourise the investigation, social media and protest banners seem to be the only places where ‘Jisha’ appears close to ‘Justice’.