Retired teacher K.K. Surendran did not go to Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan for a favour. After 23 years of fighting the State, he went to say: “Please don’t appeal against me anymore.”

In 2003, Surendran, a former lecturer with the District Institute of Education and Training in Sulthan Bathery, Wayanad, was arrested after the historic Muthanga tribal agitation. The tribals, alienated from their land and resources for years, were on a long protest for their legitimate rights. As a concerned citizen, Surendran had extended his moral support. He was accused of collusion with the agitators, charged of violence and sabotage.

The criminal case eventually collapsed, and a CBI investigation exonerated him. But Surendran began another long battle: compensation for brutal custodial torture. In 2021, a lower court awarded him Rs 5 lakh, but the then Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government argued that releasing the compensation would affect police morale.

In March 2026, an appellate court bumped up the amount to Rs 12.5 lakh with interest and directed recovery from the police officers responsible. The LDF government decided to appeal, and the process was delayed only because of the assembly election.

Encouraged by friends after the UDF returned to power, Surendran met Satheesan on 9 July. Instead of denying his request, the chief minister assured him that the compensation would come through, soonest. According to political observer Damodar Prasad, this is a small episode, but it tells us more about Satheesan’s style of governance than any policy document. “There is an important political statement here,” says writer and political observer Prof. M.N. Karassery. “The Muthanga police action took place under the UDF government. Satheesan was not simply correcting a wrong committed by his political opponents. He was accepting responsibility. That is a different kind of politics.”

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