KOCHI
Commotion prevailed in front of the Fort Kochi police station on Tuesday evening after the activists of the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) thronged the station demanding the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against an Austrian woman tourist detained by the police after being accused of pulling down Palestine solidarity boards and banners put up by SIO.
SIO activists lodged a complaint seeking to register an FIR against her under IPC Section 425 (Whoever with intent to cause, or knowing that he is likely to cause, wrongful loss or damage to the public or to any person, causes the destruction of any property, or any such change in any property or in the situation thereof as destroys or diminishes its value or utility, or affects it injuriously, commits mischief). After hours-long protest and sloganeering, the police eventually decided to register the FIR. SIO activists claimed that another woman, also Austrian, was involved and that they had traced her and shared her whereabouts with the police though she was yet to be taken into custody.
The Fort Kochi police confirmed that an FIR was being registered but declined to divulge more details either about the accused or the sections being invoked.
The chain of events started on Monday night when the woman detained by the police allegedly ransacked a couple of pro-Palestine boards and a banner mounted at Kamalakkadavu near Fort Kochi beach. The other woman allegedly filmed it.
“The boards and banners had been there since the New Year and had the support of the local people. The local residents protested her act and alerted us. Later, we traced her to a homestay and informed the police following which she was detained by the police on Tuesday. The police initially kept dillydallying on our demand that an FIR be registered against the women,” said Fuaad P.S, SIO president, Kochi City.
A video of the woman holding the torn poster arguing with youngsters had been circulating on social media since Tuesday afternoon. with pro-right wing social media groups hailing her act.
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