Youth Congress (YC) president Rahul Mamkootathil’s pre-dawn arrest sans prior notice from his residence in Pathanamthitta early Tuesday triggered Opposition protests across the State. It also drew sharp criticism from the Congress leadership.
In Thiruvananthapuram, Youth Congress workers demonstrated in front of the hospital where the police took Mr. Mamkootathil for a mandatory medical examination.
At the Museum police station, the police dissuaded Mr. Mamkootathil from speaking to the press while being escorted to the court. Mr. Mamkootathil loudly protested the police decision.
YC workers held demonstrations in Malappuram, Palakkad, Kollam, Kannur, and Pathanamthitta. In Kozhikode, YC workers marched to the District Police Chief’s office. In several places, the police forcibly removed YC workers who staged sit-in protests in the middle of main thoroughfares.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said Mr. Mamkootathil’s arrest while convalescing at home from a head injury inflicted by the police contrasted sharply with the law enforcement’s kid-glove treatment meted out to Students Federation of India (SFI) activists who protested against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan at Calicut University recently. He termed the arrest State-sponsored terrorism.
Speaking to reporters at Chalakudy, Mr. Satheesan said the police were yet to arrest the Communist Party of India (Marxist) area committee secretary who assaulted the local station house, smashed the windscreens of a police vehicle, and forcibly freed party workers detained by the local law enforcement.
The police were initially reluctant to book Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s personal security detail who “wantonly assaulted” Kerala Students Union (KSU) black flag demonstrators detained by the local police in Alappuzha.
A court order prompted them to prosecute the officers belatedly. However, the police were yet to secure the custody of the officers or record their statements. He said the police applied a different yardstick of justice regarding Opposition workers.
Mr. Satheesan termed the law enforcement political partisan and beholden to a “cabal” centred on Mr. Vijayan’s office. Congress Working Committee member K. C. Venugopal said Kerala was under police raj.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K. Sudhakaran, United Democratic Front convener M.M. Hassan, and senior Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala and V.M. Sudheeran condemned the arrest.
Left Democratic Front convener E.P. Jayarajan defended the arrest stating that “no one was above the law”.
