Hithesh Sanker, forensic surgeon at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thrissur, is struggling hard these days to shrug off the blood-stained memories of the post-mortem examination performed on Ram Narayan Baghel, a Chhattisgarh native, on December 18, 2025.

Over his career spanning a few decades, Dr. Sanker has conducted hundreds of post-mortem examinations. However, the one on Ram Narayan painfully stood out. Not an inch on the 31-year-old migrant worker’s body was left untouched, every part bore the marks of relentless blows. Dr. Sanker says he had never seen a human body so violently assaulted by other humans.

The body bore the unmistakable scars of a meticulously executed mob lynching. After Madhu, a tribal youth lynched in Attappady in 2018, the name of Ram Narayan now stands as a haunting reminder of the inhumanity unleashed by a group of people in Kerala.

Ram Narayan reached Palakkad on December 13 in search of work. He stayed with his cousin Sasikanth, a mason at Kanjikode, for a couple of days, but could not find a suitable job. Missing his two children, aged eight and 10, he decided to return to Chhattisgarh. Yet on the afternoon of December 17, he somehow wandered into a residential area at Attappallam, near Walayar, only to be seized, interrogated and brutally lynched by a mob that accused him of theft.

Assaulted for hours

The attack reportedly began around 3 p.m. and continued mercilessly for hours. The police were called in at 7 p.m. as the migrant worker collapsed. He was rushed to the Government District Hospital in Palakkad, but succumbed to his injuries shortly after. A post-mortem examination conducted the next day at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thrissur, revealed that he had died of severe internal bleeding. From head to toe, his body bore injuries, and many of his bones were broken.

Dr. Sanker, who led the post-mortem examination, emotionally wrote on his Facebook page on December 19: “The back, chest, arms, legs and even the head and brain bore marks of brutality everywhere. This was not an act of momentary anger, but the blind frenzy of a mob and the complete absence of humanity.”

“If even one person in that gang had raised his/her voice against the attack, a human life could have been saved,” says Dr. Sanker.

Eight arrested

The police arrested eight people in three phases. Anu Kallangadu (38), Prasad Mahalkadu (34), Murali Mahalkadu (38), Anandan (55), and Vipin (30) were among the first to be arrested. Later, Vinod, Jagadeesh and Shaji were arrested, all residents of Attappallam. A few more suspects are absconding.

Some of those arrested are allegedly Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers, and the manner in which they attacked Ram Narayan bore clear xenophobic overtones. As they attacked him, they repeatedly branded him a Bangladeshi and turned their prejudice into brutal violence.

The incident quickly sparked political outrage, with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and the State government targeting the BJP over the attack.

‘Victim of racial hatred’

“Ram Narayan is a victim of the racial hatred being spread by the Sangh Parivar across the country. He was attacked after being stigmatised as a Bangladeshi,” accuses Local Self-Governments Minister M.B. Rajesh. Higher Education Minister K. Bindu, Revenue Minister K. Rajan and CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan echoed similar concerns. “The BJP is attempting to replicate its north Indian policies of hatred here (Kerala),” alleges Bindu.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also targeted the BJP and the RSS, stating that the lynching was driven by ideologies of hatred. “Some of the accused have criminal background and a communal mindset. They are attempting to transplant the mob violence successfully carried out by the Sangh Parivar in north Indian States to Kerala,” he notes, while warning that such attempts would remain only a dream of the Sangh Parivar.

BJP’s stance

On its part, the BJP at the national level framed the mob lynching as a failure of the State government. Party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala claimed the government was using the incident to mask its shortcomings, while Tom Vadakkan accused the CPI(M) of diverting attention with false narratives. “The CPI(M) has become a narrative machine,” he alleges.

At the local level, the BJP said that it was only a mob attack and that those responsible should be punished. “There is nothing political about it. The BJP does not support mob violence. In 2018, several CPI(M) workers were involved in the lynching of Madhu at Attappadi, but no one treated it as a political lynching,” argues BJP district vice-president C. Krishnakumar, while questioning the government’s alleged failure to prevent the recurrence of such attacks.

Ram Narayan was the fifth person from other States to get lynched in Kerala in 10 years. In April 2024, 24-year-old Ashok Das from Arunachal Pradesh was beaten to death at Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district. In May 2023, a 36-year-old Rajesh Manjhi from Bihar was killed in a mob attack near Kondotty in Malappuram district. In July 2018, 50-year-old Manik Roy from West Bengal was beaten to death at Anchal in Kollam district. In May 2016, 29-year-old Kailas Jyoti Borah from Assam was lynched at Chingavanam in Kottayam district.

Even as political Kerala expressed shock, the lynching hardly rattled the State’s cultural circles. Both the Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan called the incident a disgrace to Kerala, a State that had begun referring to migrant workers as “guest workers.” Satheesan also tendered an apology to the people of Chhattisgarh and to the bereaved family.

Protests sparse in Palakkad

Protests against the incident were sparse in Palakkad. A tiny group under the banner of Palakkad Munnottu staged a candlelight protest, symbolically calling for “light to dawn on those who have lost their humanity.”

In Thrissur, socio-political leaders came together to form the Justice for Ram Narayan Baghel Action Committee, stepping forward to support the victim’s struggling family. The committee’s intervention prompted the State government to announce an ex gratia of ₹30 lakh for the family and to set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the incident. “₹10 lakh each will be invested in the name of the victim’s two children,” promised the Chief Minister.

The Chhattisgarh government has announced a financial aid of ₹5 lakh for Ram Narayan’s family. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has urged the Kerala government to take strict legal action against the perpetrators.

State Police Chief Ravada A. Chandrasekhar said that the accused would also be booked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Palakkad District Police Chief Ajit Kumar, who heads the SIT, expressed confidence in securing conviction to the accused. “We are going all out—not emotionally, but professionally. Our goal is to complete the investigation quickly while gathering the maximum scientific evidence,” he says.

Changed legal landscape

The police are aware that Ram Narayan’s case may lack the kind of public advocacy seen in the Madhu lynching case in Attappadi. In that case, the accused were convicted only after six years, with many witnesses turning hostile during the trial. However, the legal landscape for mob lynching has changed since Madhu’s time, and such crime are now treated with far greater severity.

Until the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), mob lynching did not attract stringent punishment. Earlier, such cases were dealt with under Section 308 of the IPC, which prescribed a maximum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment along with a fine.

With the BNS now in force, mob lynching has been elevated to the level of murder under Section 103(2). “Lynching is now treated as a far more serious offence and can even invite capital punishment,” points out P. Premnath, former Deputy Director of Prosecution. The new law explicitly recognises mob lynching as a distinct offence, defining it as murder committed by a group of five or more persons acting in concert, motivated by factors such as caste, sex, place of birth, race, religion, language, belief or community.

“Ram Narayan’s case clearly attracts Section 103(2), as the attackers targeted him by branding him a Bangladeshi,” asserts Premnath.

Video of the attack

For the police, a partial video of the attack provides a crucial lead in the case. “We plan to summon those seen in the video as witnesses. It will be difficult for them to turn hostile since their actions are on record. We may even consider the option of securing an approver,” says the District Police Chief.

He said that many of the accused had criminal backgrounds. However, the police declined to draw comparisons between this lynching and similar incidents in north India.

Lawyer and human rights activist Kulathur Jaisingh has approached the Kerala State Human Rights Commission, expressing concern that innocent persons may be falsely implicated in the case due to the widespread public attention it has garnered. National and State Human Rights Commissions have sought reports about the incident.

Similar incidents

On the day Ram Narayan was lynched, a 30-year-old man, Vipin, was tied to a post and assaulted by a gang at Thenari, near Elapully, barely 15 km from Attappallam. However, the Thenari incident came to light nearly two weeks later, as the victim initially refrained from complaining, fearing reprisals. The police have since arrested two persons, both with criminal records. In Sreekandapuram, Kannur, a 49-year-old migrant labourer named Nayim Salmani was found dead in an open ground last Friday. Nayim, who worked at a salon, had reportedly been beaten up by a gang following a dispute over charges for a facial.

The recurring instances of mob lynching have raised questions about the respect for human rights on which Kerala built its edifice of social justice.