The arrest and remand of Busher Jamsheer, a Kerala Students Union (KSU) leader under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities Prevention Act (KAAPA) in Kozhikode on Thursday have triggered strong protest against the police, with KSU terming it a politically instigated move to suppress agitations by youth against the LDF government.
The KSU district leadership is planning to launch a day-night sit-in in front of the office of the District Police Chief (Kozhikode City) protesting against the “revengeful slapping of inapplicable sections” to permanently lock in political rivals. A meeting of the KSU district committee will be held here on Saturday ahead of announcing a final decision on the protest programme.
“It was quite shocking that Mr. Jamsheer, KSU district secretary and law student, was detained under KAAPA for his alleged involvement in political clashes. If this was applicable to all, several leaders from the rival segment would have been in jail,” said KSU district president V.T. Nihal. He alleged that Jamsheer was jailed when several others who attacked him on the street got off scot-free.
Mr. Nihal, a lawyer by profession, said the legal cell of KSU on Friday had moved the KAAPA advisory board to fight the case. “If the order issued after hearing is not a favourable one, we will approach the Kerala High Court. The Congress leadership has also offered support to fight it the legal way,” he added.
According to KSU functionaries, many local leaders of the union were facing similar revengeful action in the name of participating in students’ agitations. Ajay Bose and Jeril Bose, siblings who lead the KSU in the Koyilandy constituency, were living examples of the hostile law and order implementation by misusing Section 107 (security for keeping the peace in other cases) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, they said.
District Congress Committee (DCC) president K. Praveen Kumar alleged that Mr. Jamsheer was arrested mainly for his active participation in various agitations against the Students Federation of India. “The Kerala police are now following a system earlier implemented by the BJP-led NDA government to suppress their political opponents,” he claimed.
