Vellarada (Thiruvananthapuram): There is no end to police brutalities in Kerala and shockingly they come to light frequently even as the chief minister and his own party admitted recently that human rights violations by cops have become a concern.
The latest atrocity by the Kerala Police has been reported from here and it allegedly happened a couple of years ago. Two Circle Inspectors (CIs) have been now suspended for putting an innocent man – also a heart patient – behind bars and torturing him for 21 days over an alleged theft case. A subsequent probe revealed that a 23-year-old sick youth from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu was subjected to severe torture at police stations as the cops tried to implicate him in a theft case.
The suspended cops are G Ajith Kumar and T Vijayakumar. The former is now based at the of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau in Thiruvananthapuram and the latter at the Putthur Station in neighbouring Kollam district.
Ajith Kumar was the CI and Vijayakumar the SI at the Vellarada Station when they framed, tortured and put Rejin from Cheriyakolla in Kanyakumari District in jail. Rejin had to undergo surgery later as his heart condition worsened.
Case history
Rejin's ordeal began after he was summoned to the Vellarada police station on October 6, 2017. The SI reportedly showed him a CCTV clip and asked if the person seen in it was him. As Rejin said the image was not clear, the SI then took him to the CI. Soon the two officers thrashed him and he was subjected to torture for the next 5 days at Vellarada, Aryankod, Puvar and Kanjiramkulam police stations.
"The CI and SI beat me first. Later I was thrashed by four others on the station’s first floor using wooden planks and metal pieces. They did not stop even after pleading that I was a heart patient. The next day I was taken to the Aryankod station where ground chilli was applied to eyes and private parts. The next day, policemen at Kanjiramkulam station sprayed chilli and beat me up even more," Rejin narrated.
Rejin, who was an employee of Terumo Penpol at Puliyarakkonam, was accused of stealing Rs 65,000 from one Pushparaj’s store at Kunnathukal Junction and snatching Rs 1,14,500 from another trader Krishnan Nair at Tholady Junction, both in Thiruvananthapuram district.
He was taken by the cops as some eyewitnesses had claimed one of the two thieves who came on a bike had features similar to that of Rejin. He was charged in both the cases and remanded in custody by the Neyyattinkara Court. Rejin spent 21 days in jail before being transferred to a hospital. Rejin lost his job after the news of his arrest spread.
"At Puvar station, needles were thrust into my nails. I fainted four times during the assault. The policemen wanted me to confess to those crimes and tell them where the money was," Rejin said, adding that he fainted in jail too.
Slight relief
Rejin then approached the court, government authorities and the Human Rights Commission. A probe by special branch Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) had later revealed that the policemen had framed him. They had charged him alone when Krishnan Nair claimed two men were involved in the incident.
In June a remand prisoner had died after torture by the cops of Nedumkandam police station. Another died around the same time at the sub-jail at Mavelikkara. A year ago a youth had died owing to assault by cops at a police station in Ernakulam. These incidents tarnished the image of the Kerala Police as well as put the government in a spot.
