Kerala: Red Carnage

 

 Sreejith

 

Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) worker Sreejith who was arrested on April 6 died in a private hospital on April 9, thanks to the inhuman custodial torture he suffered for nearly three days. Sreejith was arrested in connection with the suicide of one Vasudevan who was beaten by a band of people. The man committed suicide after the attack. Sreejith was booked as the 10th accused in the case. But Vasudevan’s son Vinish informed that police had caught Sreejith by mistake as he was not one among the people who attacked his father.

 

Sreejith was arrested by the ‘mufti’ policemen while sleeping at home in the night. Police dragged him to the courtyard of the house and brutally kicked and beat in front of his mother and wife. The policemen showered dirty abuses on Sreejith’s family people when they tried to guard Sreejith from the torture.

 

Even though Sreejith had complained to the police about pain in the abdomen and block in urinary passage, it fell on the deaf ears. It is reported that he had vomited in the police station several times. His mother told the media that he was not given water to drink even though he kept for begging for it in her presence. At last he was admitted in a hospital during the middle of the night of April 7.

 

Media has tracked the hospital records which suggest that his intestine had been seriously injured and most of the internal organs were non-functional or damaged and blood pressure was extremely high. Then the doctors carried out surgery. Forensic experts echo this assumption.

 

The State Human Rights Commission Chairman said that all circumstantial evidences are against the police. They violated all the Supreme Court guidelines. He wondered if any arrest report has been registered.

 

BJP leaders and workers blocked the highway in Varappuzha near Kochi, the native place of Sreejith, carrying his dead body, demanding immediate action against the guilty policemen and proper inquiry into the custodial death. Thousands of RSS-BJP-BMS workers participated in the protest. At last district collector and Superintendent of Police came to the spot and discussed with the leaders. The dead body was taken to the deceased’s house only after the collector declared that three policemen were suspended and an enquiry team led by an Inspector General was formed. The RSS and BJP leaders demanded government employment to Sreejith’s widow and Rs 25 lakhs to the family. Collector said that last two demands will be considered immediately.

 

Other reports suggest that Santosh, a poor Dalit in Palakkad, committed suicide due to the alleged harassment by the additional Police Inspector. The incident took place on April 10, the day Sreejith’s dead body underwent post mortem. This is the way police operates in the state. The force is a tool in the hands of the CPM leaders for state terror. BJP leaders alleged that when they met DGP some time back for discussing an issue, they were told to see MV Jayarajan, the CM’s advisor in police matters.

 

 

BJP Alathoor Mandalam General Secretary and ex-military personnel Shibu was brutally attacked in the ugliest Fascist design by the CPM goons in Kizhakkumcherry, Palakkad district. This happened on April 2. He was hacked twenty times with axe, swords and iron rod and is now under treatment in Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi.

 

Doctors have amputated his left leg just under the waist line hence; no artificial limb is possible for him. Right hand and left leg are totally damaged. Shibu is still in critical condition. BJP Palakkad district President Adv. Krishnadas told this Correspondent that it seems like, the swords had been dipped in some sort of poisonous liquid before the attack.

 

CPM’s animosity towards BJP-RSS workers has origins in the desertion of several comrades who joined BJP. Moreover, Shibu has led several popular protests against the maladministration of the CPM-controlled Panchayat council. These were more than enough to invite the wrath of the CPM leadership and their goons.

 

Interestingly, there was no tension or hostility as such in the area. However, advocate Krishnadas told this correspondent that Shibu’s mother had contested the panchayat election in 2015, as a BJP candidate. She bagged more than 200 votes, whereas, the total BJP vote share used to be approximately 20 or so in the previous elections in this CPM stronghold. This turned the local CPM leadership bitter. Shibu was attacked in his own compound, while he was returning home, obviously in front of his mother. One of the arrested is a CPM Panchayat councilor.

 

 

There are reports from Vembayam, Thiruvananthapuram district, that several RSS and BJP workers were attacked by Democratic Youth Federation of India—the youth organisation of CPM on April 8. One of them had to have 13 stitches due to serious injuries. Four seriously injured workers are being treated in Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram. Several workers are injured too.

 

 

Vinishkumar  

Ratish (Hindu Aikya Vedi), Vinishkumar (Yuva Morcha), Shivaraj (RSS) and Aneesh are the hospitalised ones. The issue started when the CPI (M) and DYFI workers created chaos during the wedding party of Aneesh’s sister. Even though the elders brought a compromise, the CPM goons attacked the Sangh workers while they were returning home after the party. They destroyed the office of the Kurukshetra Samskarika Samiti, a cultural body of Sangh workers. The assailants used iron rods, swords, etc. RSS-BJP workers alleged that the attack was carefully orchestrated. CPM goons have been attacking Sangh and BJP workers since long. The attack during the wedding party is a part of it. This is a clear design to play Kannur game in southern Kerala.

 

 

Two women BJP councilors in Kalliyoor Panchayat, Thiruvananthapuram have been attacked by CPM cadre on April 8. This is in connection with the election of the Chairperson of Kudumbashree, the autonomous women empowerment programme. They resorted to physical attack raising the wrong alibi of shortage of quorum when they realised that their candidate was going to lose if election took place in the BJP-ruled Panchayat. When they raised invalid reasons for postponing the election, arguments took place. CPM men beat and pushed the BJP councilor Rajalakshmi and she felled down. And, they brutally kicked her; now she is hospitalised with her broken shoulder bone. Education Standing Committee Chairperson Jayanthi, another BJP councilor, is injured and hospitalised too.