One of my friends came one day to tell me that Mr. Viswanatha Menon, then a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha [Lower House], wanted to meet me. Then and there I went to his home to meet him, although I had not known him before. I learnt that after receiving a petition from me he had presented Rajan’s case in the Rajya Sabha and had strongly demanded an enquiry into his disappearance. He received a reply that Rajan was not in police custody. He then raised this issue in the Lok Sabha [Upper House] through Mr. Samar Mukharjee, and received the same reply. Mr. Viswanatha Menon gave me a concise version of the discussion held in both Houses of Parliament. After this meeting I constantly kept in touch with him.
I had copies of petitions that I had submitted to the President, Vice President, Prime Minister, and all Members of Parliament, but except for Mr. A. K. Gopalan, Mr. Patyam Rajan, and Mr. Viswanatha Menon none responded. Others said that they didn’t receive copies, as if the postal department was more considerate towards Mr. Gopalan, Mr. Rajan and Mr. Menon. Some of these ‘representatives of the people’ were my close friends, including Mr. Janarardhanan and Mr. Vayalar Ravi from Trichur. But many were not even ready to admit that they received copies of my petitions. Readers can decide for themselves how suited these persons were to be people’s representatives.
Mr. Viswanatha Menon went to Delhi several times on this matter alone. He sent copies of my petitions to the Home Minister Karunakaran, but received no response. Once he happened to be on the same flight as Mr. Karunakaran, and told him, ‘Are we not the representatives of the people? We should get replies to whatever issues we bring to your notice.’
‘I always reply to all letters I receive,’ claimed Mr. Karunakaran.
Then Mr. Menon reminded him of my petitions. ‘I don’t remember having received one like that,’ was his reply.
Later Mr. Menon sent one of my petitions to Mr. Karunakaran, with a covering letter: ‘Received the letter from Mr. Eachara Varier informing of his son being missing after the police took him into custody, and requesting for details about his whereabouts. Is the matter being considered?’
This letter and its content caused a furore when my habeas corpus petition was heard, especially the words “the matter”. There was great argument in the court as to what “the matter’ meant. In the Supreme Court, Advocate Ram Kumar interpreted these words for the judges, and there was great argument there also.
