Congress stages statewide protest over police assault on Youth Congress leader

Thrissur/Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 10 (PTI) The Congress on Wednesday staged protests across Kerala demanding the dismissal and jailing of police officers accused of "brutally assaulting" a local leader of Youth Congress in custody two years ago.

The ruling CPI(M) hit back by accusing the opposition party of ignoring its own record of police excesses during the Emergency.

Protest gatherings were held in front of police stations across the state, with the main rally inaugurated at Kunnamkulam in Thrissur district by KPCC president and MLA Sunny Joseph.

He accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's government of "shielding" the guilty officers and failing to deliver justice.

CCTV footage from Kunnamkulam police station surfaced earlier this month, in which V S Sujith, a local leader of the Youth Congress, was seen being assaulted inside the Kunnamkulam police station by police officials.

Four police officials, accused of torturing Sujith at the police station in the year 2023, were suspended from service on September 6.

"Those who ganged up to beat an innocent young man are not fit to wear the khaki uniform. The whole of Kerala saw the assault on Sujith, but the only person who acted as if he hadn't seen it was the chief minister," Joseph said, adding that suspension was not real punishment.

He also mocked reports that the police had offered Sujith Rs 20 lakh to settle the case.

Joseph pledged that the Congress would raise the issue strongly in the Assembly and demanded that the accused be dismissed from service, not merely transferred.

At the same time, CPI(M) leader and state General Education Minister V Sivankutty dismissed the Congress campaign as political theatre.

Speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram, he said the opposition had never apologised for police atrocities committed during its rule.

He recalled the plight of late Professor T V Eachara Warrier, whose son Rajan died in custody during the Emergency, and accused the Congress of failing to answer his anguished questions even after five decades.

"Most cases of police brutality in Kerala happened when the Congress was in power," Sivankutty said, citing the Emergency detention camps, the police entry into Sivagiri under A K Antony, and the crackdown on Adivasis during the Muthanga protest.

Sivankutty said during the Emergency, countless young men were brutally beaten and killed in detention camps.

"Yet Congress has never expressed even the slightest remorse over it. K Karunakaran was the Home Minister at that time," he said.

History is clear, the minister said.

"Yet Congress chooses to attack the Left government over isolated cases. This government will never protect police officers who act unlawfully," Sivankutty added. PTI TGB TGB KH