Nilambur: A 52-year-old differently abled man has alleged that the police had assaulted him cruelly for no reason. The incident took place here in Kerala's Malappuram district around 11 pm on Tuesday.
The victim, K P Thomas Kutty (Ponnan) of Kalarikkal, Nettikkulam in Pothukallu area, suffered physical discomfort and difficulty in relieving himself after being tortured by the policemen and was admitted to the Nilambur District Hospital.
However, the police denied that they assaulted Thomas Kutty but had only questioned him for sitting on his three-seater on the roadside at an odd hour. The police also claimed that Thomas Kutty was in an inebriated condition and, in fact, it was he who had verbally abused the police, grabbed their torch and damaged it.
Thomas Kutty’s complaint
According to Thomas Kutty, he was sitting on his three-wheeled vehicle, parked near his house, while awaiting a Christmas carol group, which included his son. Two policemen, who got down from a police jeep that arrived there, approached him and asked him why he was sitting there at 11 in the night.
When Thomas Kutty replied that he was waiting for his son, the policemen clubbed him with their torch. Thomas Kutty took the blow on the side of his head and the torch was damaged as it fell on the ground.
“The cops then took a baton (lathi) from the jeep and began thrashing me. When I fell on the road from the three-wheeler, they kicked me,” says the complaint.
The cops were in the uniform of (Kerala) Thunderbolts, he added. (Kerala Thunderbolts is an elite commando force of the state police.)
Hearing the disabled man’s screams for help, a neighbour rushed to the spot and dissuaded the cops from further assault.
There are several marks of beatings on Thomas Kutty’s back and blood was seen in his urine.
Thomas Kutty was paralyzed waist down after he suffered an injury to the vertebral column during a fall 12 years ago.
