| Sixth custodial death in two months | |||
|
|||
| Anandraj,
40, died in the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College while he was
undergoing treatment. He had been in police custody at the sub-jail in
the Capital after he was remanded for his involvement in a country
liquor brewing case and had been hospitalised on Monday. Though police
officials rebutted the allegations of custodial torture, relatives of
Anandaraj said they were denied permission to see him some days ago. |
|||
| This
suspicious death comes at a time when five custodial deaths have taken
place within two months of the LDF Government coming to power. The LDF
had highlighted during the Assembly polls that while the Congress-led
UDF ruled the State from 2001-06, close to 200 custodial deaths had
taken place. |
|||
| The
first death reported in last month, at Peringamala in
Thiruvananthapuram, when a daily-wage worker Kollayil Gopi was killed
when he was allegedly kicked by policemen into a well. It was alleged
that Gopi was scared by a group of policemen and he was running for
life. Another death occurred when Rajesh, belonging to Akkulam, jumped
into a lake after he was grilled by a group of policemen. Residents
alleged that Rajesh did not know swimming and the policemen had thrown
stones at him, while he was trying to escape. |
|||
| The
third custodial death happened in Kozhikkode. Abdulnasar was taken into
custody by a police team from Panniyankara station on the charges of a
mobile phone robbery. Police officials say that he had fainted during
questioning, but a complaint had been registered on custodial torture.
The fourth death took place at Nooranad police station, near
Kayamkulam. Prasannan, who had been arrested on July 19, died under
mysterious circumstances. Relatives allege that he had been tortured by
the police. |
|||
| Another
person, Marayappadam Parameswaran had died at the Kizhakkenchery police
office on July 23. He was taken into custody for questioning in
connection with a robbery case. |
|||
| Meanwhile, a Dalit woman Sudha had allegedly been assaulted by the women police |
|||
| officials
from the Fort police station. In view of these developments Chief
Minister VS Achuthanandan had warned that erring cops would be dealt
with sternly, but the number of mysterious deaths has been on a rise. |
|||
| Ironically,
Balakrishnan had warned State police officials just an hour earlier
that strict action would be taken against those resorting to
third-degree torture. "At no cost should third degree methods of
torture be undertaken in police stations and if it happens again,
strict action would be taken against those officials violating it,"
said Balakrishnan while holding a videoconference with the 14 district
police officials of the State. He had also said the police should not
act as judges while probing cases. |
|||
| This
fresh warning comes two days after the Minister announced that changes
would be made to the Kerala Police Act. The Government has already
started re-drafting the act by holding the station house officer in
each police station responsible for custodial deaths. |
|||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power.
It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality."
- Dr BR Ambedkar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala run by
Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA)
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
