Three days after a video clip emerged of a boy chanting 'provocative' slogans at a Popular Front of India (PFI) rally held in Alappuzha on May 21, the police are groping in the dark to find clues that will help them identify the child and his parents.
Alappuzha Deputy Superintendent of Police N.R. Jayaraj said they were yet to get concrete clues about the minor in the video. “We got some leads and are working on them. Efforts are also on to identify others in the video,” Mr. Jayaraj said.
After the video featuring the boy sitting on the shoulder of a man and chanting hate and incendiary slogans apparently against other religions went viral, the police arrested PFI Alappuzha district president Navas Vandanam and Ansar Najeeb, a PFI activist from Erattupetta in Kottayam.
A local court on Wednesday remanded Najeeb, who carried the boy on his shoulders in the video, in judicial custody. Officials said as per the statement given by Najeeb, he did not know anything about the boy as he only met him during the march.
Earlier, the Alappuzha South police registered a case against those who brought the child for the rally and its organisers under Sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
The investigation in the case is led by Alappuzha South police Circle Inspector Arun S.
