Rajakkad incident: Four police personnel suspended

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NOV. 18. The DIG, Ernakulam Range, Mr. Vinson M. Paul, has placed under suspension four police personnel in connection with the torture of the Congress activist and SNDP leader, Mr. C. G. Madhu, at the Rajakkad police station in Idukki district, on November 13.

Those suspended are the sub-inspector, Mr. Mahesh Kumar, the head constables, Mr. Karunakaran and Mr. Vincent Joseph, and the constable, Mr. Saji M. Paul. The suspension order was issued on the basis of a preliminary inquiry conducted by the Crime Detachment Deputy SP, Mr. K.G. Alexander.

The DIG has also asked the DCRB Deputy SP, Mr. Peter Babu, to conduct a detailed inquiry into the incident. The investigation of the three cases registered in the Rajakkad police station in connection with the incident, would be handed over to the Crime Branch.

The secretary of the SNDP's Panniyarkutty branch, Mr. Madhu (36), had been summoned to the police station for taking his statement in a land dispute case. According to Mr. Madhu's complaint, he was beaten up severely and forced to consume his own excrement.

The incident had raised a furore and prompted a walkout by the Opposition in the Assembly on November 15 in protest against what they termed the Government's insensitive handling of the matter. Targeting the Chief Minister, Mr. A.K. Antony, who is in charge of Home, the LDF demanded to know what the plight of the common man would be if a Congress activist was himself treated in this manner by the police.

Mr. Antony, however, said the report of the Idukki SP only spoke of Mr. Madhu, accused of having sexually harassed a Dalit woman, beating up a head constable and running away while being interrogated by the police. He said that if the police had not acted firmly on the sexual harassment charge, the Government would have been accused of having tried to protect a Congress worker.

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Section  : Southern States
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