The District Congress Committee (DCC) has decided to approach the Kerala State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) seeking action against a few police officers in the city who allegedly misused the water cannons in some of the recent agitations, causing serious injuries to the protesters.
The details of one of the latest incidents in which DCC president K. Praveenkumar sustained grave injuries while he was leading a march to the Feroke police station will be submitted to the rights panel in two days.
Mr. Praveenkumar told The Hindu on Monday that he had solid reasons, including medical reports and video recordings, to prove that the water cannon was used in a very dangerous way against him during the protest. He alleged that one of the officers who controlled the water cannons at Feroke had an axe to grind with the Congress workers.
According to Mr. Praveenkumar, the high-velocity stream of water was shot in a pointed way violating the permitted pressure standards and regulations as part of a political revenge. “Such a reckless action, suspected to be supported by some policemen, could have caused serious injuries,” alleged Mr. Praveenkumar.
Apart from filing petitions with the KSHRC, the DCC leadership is planning to approach the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) seeking action against officers who allegedly operated the water cannon in a “dangerous” way. DCC functionaries said the details of an officer who allegedly worked behind the alleged vengeful operation of the machine would be handed over to the PCA for initiating department-level action.
According to DCC leaders, many of their party workers had called for filing a criminal case against the suspected officers, but it was dropped citing the technicalities involved in suing the government officers. “As government sanction was required for such measures, we just withdrew from the process considering the anti-Congress approach of the ruling front,” they alleged.
Meanwhile, the DCC leadership made it clear that they would move a civil case against the police claiming a reasonable compensation. According to them, many were unaware of the impact of misuse of water cannons on the human body and were reluctant to take it up for legal action even after sustaining serious injuries.
Police’s stance
Countering the allegations, police sources from Feroke station said they were ready to face any probe in the incident. Water cannons were used only when the Congress workers tried to vandalise the barricades and barge into the protected area, they said.
