The Kuruppanpady police have registered four cases against police persons on four petitions lodged by as many Kerala Students Union (KSU) activists booked in connection with the protest staged against the Nava Kerala Sadas at Odakkali in Perumbavur Assembly Constituency on December 10.
After an evening of sustained tension, the police had arrested and registered a case against KSU State office bearer Basil Varghese and KSU activists Jibin Mathew, Jaiden Johnson and Devakumar T. after they hurled shoes at the Nava Kerala Sadas bus carrying the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues and a police escort vehicle.
However, the accused themselves had complained against police highhandedness on which the police had not immediately registered any case. Only two days later, on December 12, that too on being reprimanded by a magistrate court in Perumbavur where the accused were produced did the police register the four cases against as yet unidentified police persons.
“We registered the cases on the same day we received the direction of the magistrate and the FIRs (First Information Reports) were submitted before the court the very next day. We are investigating the cases and the complainants had not identified the cops in their petitions. It will emerge during the course of the investigation,” Kuruppanpady police sources said.
Also read | Attack on Youth Congress leaders was a natural response, says Pinarayi
Cases have been registered against the police personnel under IPC Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous means and weapons) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).
The FIRs not only mention about normal police personnel but also those wearing police commando uniform while describing considerable violence that was allegedly unleashed on the four petitioners. They were shoved around, beaten up with canes and kicked, including inside the police vehicles.
The FIRs registered on petitions lodged by Basil Varghese and Jibin Mathew in particular mention a police officer in commando uniform who among other things hit them with the rifle butt.
The Kuruppanpady police had come in for considerable flak from the magistrate court for invoking among other charges IPC Section 308 (attempt to culpable homicide) against the four KSU activists. The court wondered how the section can be invoked in an incident for hurling shoes while also observing that the police should not only protect ministers, but the public as well. The court also granted bail to all the four accused.
