Kesavendra Kumar | Photo: Rahul R PattomThiruvananthapuram: The young IAS officer’s blackened face was a blot on Kerala society. Four years after he was bathed in motor oil, National Rural Health Mission director Kesavendra Kumar has asked the government to withdraw the legal proceeding against the students who targeted him.
Kumar was attacked in his office on February 5, 2013 when he was serving as the director of higher secondary education. The perpetrators were a group of engineering students attached to the Kerala Students Union who had gone to his office to hold talks on an increase in fees.
The eight students were charged with a number of offenses including the destruction of public property. They had to produce collateral worth lakhs of rupees before they were let out on bail.
The previous Congress-led government tried to withdraw the case but the IAS officers’ association resisted the move.
The students and their parents pleaded with Kumar to forgive them. The officer, who moved on as the district collector of Wayanad, agreed on one condition: the accused needed to do social service.
The students cleaned government hospitals and mental health clinics, distributed food to the poor, cared for mentally challenged children before they approached Kumar again. They had a clutch of certificates from the doctors testifying for their good work.
Kumar kept his word. He wrote to the government that he was no longer interested in proceeding with the case since the accused had realized their folly. His letter to the home additional chief secretary may lift the burden of the criminal case from the young engineers if the police give a favorable report.
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