Rahul Easwar sent to police custody till Dec 5, hospitalised amid hunger strike

Thiruvananthapuram: Orator and right-wing activist Rahul Easwar will remain in police custody till December 5 as part of the probe into a cyber harassment case. The District Sessions Court here on Wednesday approved the Cyber Police’s plea seeking his custody, following which the court deferred consideration of his bail plea to December 6. He is admitted to Fort Hospital as his hunger strike completed 48 hours. 

Cyber police here booked Rahul Easwar on November 30 for allegedly revealing the identity of the woman who accused MLA Rahul Mamkoottathil of raping and impregnating her. On Monday, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court here denied him bail after the police argued that he had made sexually coloured remarks about the survivor. When the court remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days, Rahul began a hunger strike in jail. As per reports, he has been consuming only water since Monday and has refused food provided in the jail.

Easwar, the fifth accused in the case, has been booked under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Sections 72, 75(1)(iv), 79, 351(1) and 351(2), along with Section 43 read with 66 of the Information Technology Act.

The Thiruvananthapuram Cyber Police arrested Easwar on Sunday based on the survivor’s complaint. His electronic devices, including his mobile phone and laptop, were inspected as part of the probe. After questioning him for more than three hours, officers formally recorded his arrest. Easwar has publicly supported Mamkoottathil and maintained that the MLA is innocent since the allegations surfaced.

Apart from Easwar, Congress leader Sandeep G Varier, Mahila Congress leader Renjitha Pulickan, Advocate Deepa Joseph, and the person who handled Deepa’s social media profile have also been booked in the case.