Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress state unit has stepped up its attack against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government after two cases of alleged custodial torture, of which one involves a Youth Congress worker, emerged in Kerala.
The controversy began after CCTV visuals of the two separate incidents of alleged police torture surfaced publicly after they were obtained through the Right to Information Act (RTI). In the first video, a Youth Congress functionary, V. S. Sujith from Thrissur, was brutally tortured in 2023. Though the four officials, including the sub-inspector, were suspended immediately after, the Congress has demanded their resignation.
Amid the controversy, another CCTV visual from a separate incident surfaced, wherein the sub-inspector of the Peechi police station was seen assaulting two hotel employees after they were taken into custody following a clash in 2023. While the visuals were secured through RTI by the Congress in the first case, the hotel owner took the same route in the other case.
The incidents are happening at a time when the home department, under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, is already under the Opposition’s scrutiny for alleged abuse of power.
On Monday, the State Youth Congress held a march to the Secretariat protesting the police brutality, which turned violent. The State Congress unit is set to organise a statewide protest on Wednesday.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief Sunny Joseph said the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), has politicised the police force for its own benefits.
He said the suspended police officers should be dismissed and the case should be probed by a senior officer. “Suspension in itself is not punishment. The police are controlled by a CPI(M)-controlled cell. The Home Department, headed by the Chief Minister, is justifying all the wrongdoings,” Joseph said Monday.
Vijayan is yet to comment on the matter. However, General Education Minister V. Sivankutty said that strict action would be taken in cases of police assault without showing any leniency.
He remarked that some police officers bring disgrace to the force, and the government will deal with all of them.“Police brutality is not a Left policy. Some officers bring a bad name to both society and the government, and some who are unfit to remain in the force itself. All such officers will be dealt with,” he said.
‘Arrested for nothing’
Sujith was arrested on 5 April, 2023, after he interrupted the police while they were intimidating some youngsters at midnight. According to A. M. Nidheesh, a close friend of Sujith and then the President of Kunnamkulam Assembly constituency of the Youth Congress unit, was taken into the police station forcefully, after which he was assaulted.
In the CCTV visuals obtained by the party on Thursday, Sujith was seen being taken to the station from the jeep when he wasn’t wearing a shirt and had his dhoti in his hand. In the visuals from inside the station, three officials were seen beating him.
“He was beaten up in the station, even in a corner where there was no camera. His ears were severely injured,” Nidheesh alleged.
Nidheesh said Sujith was slapped with charges of drunken misconduct and obstructing duty, but he was granted bail as the medical exam proved that he wasn’t intoxicated.
They have been fighting to secure the visuals through RTI ever since Sujith was discharged from the hospital, but faced many hurdles as the police were unwilling to provide it, he added.
Last week, the State Information Commission ordered the department to release it in 15 days. “We had to fight so much. The police even offered us Rs 20 lakhs through our acquaintances to leave the case,” he alleged.
In 2022, the police force faced multiple allegations consecutively. In one such incident that led to widespread outrage, a soldier and his brother, Vishnu and Vignesh, were subjected to torture in Kollam district’s Kilikollur police station. Vignesh, a Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) worker, was summoned to stand surety for bail for an accused in a drug case.
As Vignesh was hesitant to get involved, the discussion led to a scuffle. Later, Vignesh and Vishnu, who went to pick up his brother, were kept in custody for 12 days. The custody dispute also led to the cancellation of Vishnu’s wedding.
Vijayan, in a written reply in the Assembly in December 2022,, said that a total of 828 police officers were accused in criminal cases in the preceding six years, with the highest number of 99 reporting from Alappuzha followed by Ernakulam.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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