Under instructions from Chief Minister A K Antony, the Kerala police has started filing charge sheets in all the reported communal clashes that have occurred in the state since 1992.

"We want to ensure that communal clashes do not ruin social harmony and religious unity in a state like Kerala," Antony, who recently completed two years as CM of the Congress-led United Democratic Front government, said.

According to police records, communal clashes in the state have gone up since the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. Records submitted to Antony recently revealed that there were 182 clashes, and some of them had led to killings across Kerala, especially in the northern districts of Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargode.

But charge sheets have not been filed in these cases and political interference, red tape and long delays in courts are said to be the main reasons for this. 

But the violence in Marad village on May 2, which led to the killing of nine people, has forced the government to take action. Many believe the killings could have been prevented if the police had chargesheeted those guilty of perpetuating violence in the same village in January 2002, when five people died.

"What is the use of arresting the killers if the government can not charge sheet them and get them maximum punishment. The Antony government has utterly failed to prevent communal clashes in the state because communal elements are helping the chief minister rule Kerala," Communist Party of India-Marxist leader V S Achuthanandan told rediff.com

The government's latest move is a 'politically motivated publicity stunt', according to him. "The Antony government's image has been badly sullied."

But despite criticism from the opposition, Antony's initiatives have earned appreciation from the central government.

Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, who was in Kerala on Sunday, said he was satisfied with the measures that the state government was taking. "I feel the state government has been dealing with the Marad incident well," Advani said.