Monday, May 28, 2012

Mappila Murders (Southern India), March 2 1886

This is a case being tried in the Madras High Court. A family of "Moplahs" (Mappilas) are described as having been murdered -- four out of five children, and their mother and father, were all cut to pieces and then burned by a mob. British soldiers then shot down most of the killers, leaving three men to be tried for the murders. Here the defendants are trying various legal mechanisms and denials to protect themselves. 

The family in question is described as having converted to Islam, and then un-converted. It's also complicated by the sense of caste. I do not know a lot about the kind of violence during this period, though it does appear to  be generally part of the build-up to what would be called the Malabar Rebellion of 1921. 

Civil & Military Gazette
March 2, 1886
  

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