Kochi: For 18 months, Benjo Baby carried a memory that haunted him more than his five days in a sub-jail. It wasn't the police boot pressing on his foot or the false accusations that branded him and his wife as criminals. It was a specific sound.

“It wasn’t just the sight; it was the sound. I could never forget that moment. She was slapped right in front of me. That moment keeps replaying in my head like CCTV footage that never gets erased. I could still hear the sound of the slap in my head often,” Benjo told Onmanorama, recalling the helplessness of watching the then Station House Officer Inspector KG Prathap Chandran assault his three-month-pregnant wife, NJ Shaimol, inside the Ernakulam North Police Station.

“No man could tolerate seeing his pregnant wife being slapped by another man in front of him. But I was helpless... I realised if I did something out of provocation, they would not hesitate to harm me and my wife again,” Benjo added.

On Thursday, the “recording in his head” was finally validated by actual evidence. The footage, released following a Kerala High Court order, shows Prathap Chandran pushing NJ Shaimol (43) on the chest and slapping her across the face inside the police station, as other officers restrain him. Women constables are seen forcibly taking the babies from her arms. Benjo is visible falling at the officer’s feet, pleading. 

The visuals have dismantled the police’s original narrative and reignited questions over custodial violence, abuse of authority, and accountability within the force. The release of the visuals has vindicated the couple and led to the suspension of Inspector Prathap Chandran.

The sequence of events pertaining to the case began in the early hours of June 18, 2024. Around 1.30 am, Benjo and Shaimol were asleep in their lodge-cum-house near Ernakulam North Railway Station with their seven-month-old twins, Jovia and Jovita, when loud shouting outside woke them. On the road opposite the lodge, policemen from the Ernakulam North police station were forcefully detaining two youngsters, staff of a nearby lodge, and attempting to push them into a police vehicle.

“I asked what was happening. One officer who knew me warned me, ‘Ben, don’t interfere’,” Benjo recalled. He stepped back but the youths were crying, saying they were being falsely detained. As the incident unfolded in a public space, Benjo took out his phone and began recording.

After noticing the video being shot, the police stopped. “After some time, the police let the boys go and left. We went back to sleep. I never imagined that video would turn our lives upside down,” Benjo said.

The next evening, when Benjo returned from the market, Shaimol told him that a few policemen in mufti had come to the lodge asking about the video. Concerned, Shaimol went to the police station to enquire. The SHO was not present, and she did not get clear answers.

“We were confused, but we didn’t push it. A day later, everything changed,” Benjo said.

Two days later, on the evening of June 20, the consequences arrived. As the couple prepared to drive to Thodupuzha for Shaimol’s maternity scan, the police officers in mufti arrived at their lodge.

On the afternoon of June 20, the family was preparing to travel to Thodupuzha. Shaimol, who was three months pregnant, had a maternity scan scheduled the next day at a hospital there. Medical documents were packed, and their twins were ready. 

Around 4 pm, a group of policemen in plainclothes arrived at the lodge. “They asked me to show the video. I played it on my phone. After watching it, one officer put my phone into his pocket and said, ‘Ben, let’s go.’” Benjo said. 

Benjo protested and asked why. Shaimol explained she was pregnant and that they were about to leave for the hospital.

“They said everything could wait. When Shaimol insisted we would go to the station after the scan, an officer warned her: “You be silent, otherwise you will also be coming with us now,” Benjo recalled.
To avoid further escalation and calm Shaimol, Benjo went with them.

According to Benjo, once they reached the station, the questioning turned aggressive. “They made me sit on a bench. I was surrounded by policemen,” Benjo says. “One of them pressed his boot hard on my foot, crushing my fingers. They kept asking, ‘Why did you take the video of the police? You dare to play with us?’”

He was not told why he was being detained. Panicked, Shaimol took an autorickshaw to the station with the twins, carrying a bag of medical records.

“When she entered, she saw them hurting me. She started crying and asking why I was being detained,” Benjo said.

Inspector Prathap Chandran, who was in plainclothes (mufti), ordered women officers to take the infants away from her. They blocked her.

“I literally fell on the inspector’s feet and begged, ‘Sir, my wife is pregnant, please leave her. My babies are too young, and their heads are not even steady... please let us go,’” Benjo recounted.
The CCTV footage, released by the police on Friday, revealed precisely this sequence.

Shaimol, terrified and exhausted, tried to move toward her husband. The inspector pushed her back by the chest. “In panic, she threw the medical files on the floor impulsively and tried again to come to me and pushed the inspector. That is when the inspector slapped her across the face,” Benjo said.

When Benjo attempted to intervene, he was shoved down and struck on the head. Other officers restrained the inspector as he tried to continue the assault. 

Benjo said Shaimol was taken to the entrance by the cops, and she collapsed from shock and exhaustion and was taken to the hospital.
“Luckily, the baby was safe. But my wife was in deep trauma,” Benjo said.

The cover-up: 'Goon Couple' narrative 
Realising that Shaimol’s family and advocates representing Benjo had arrived, the police shifted tactics. Benjo was locked in a cell, while Shaimol was hospitalised. Despite Benjo challenging the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) to check the CCTV footage later that night, the inspector denied that the assault occurred. 

Instead, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the couple. Benjo was accused of obstructing police duty on June 18. Shaimol was booked for allegedly attacking the police station, shattering the glass door, and injuring the Inspector. Most cruelly, she was booked under the Juvenile Justice Act for allegedly “throwing her children on the floor."

“It was very difficult for us to face society. Our babies were shocked by the incident, and they have not smiled for three weeks. They made us look like criminals. A goon husband and wife staging a drama with two babies inside the police station,” Benjo said, describing the trauma.

Benjo spent five days in jail under judicial custody. Upon his release, the couple began a relentless legal battle. Shaimol filed complaints with the Chief Minister and the State Police Chief, Human Rights Commission and Women’s Commission alleging harassment and coercion. Their initial attempts to get the CCTV footage via the Right to Information (RTI) Act were stonewalled, and an internal police inquiry favoured the cops.

The turning point came when they approached the Kerala High Court. After a year-long battle, Justice VG Arun ordered the release of the footage on December 1, 2025. On Thursday, nearly 18 months after the incident, the couple finally received the cloned copy of the visuals. 

“We needed these visuals to prove our innocence. We fought for nearly a year to get this. The footage shows women officers taking the babies from my arms, not me throwing them. It shows the inspector’s assault, not the other way around,” Shaimol said.

Following the release of the damning footage, Inspector Prathap Chandran, who was serving as SHO of Aroor Police Station, was placed under suspension on Thursday night. An internal inquiry led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Narcotics Cell, has been initiated. South Zone IG S Syamsunder said further action would follow based on the inquiry report.

For Benjo and Shaimol, the fight is not over. On Friday, they demanded a court-monitored magisterial investigation into the Inspector's actions.

“We lost our peace, our dignity, our standing in society. Our babies didn’t smile for weeks,” Benjo said.
“We will not stop until the officers who assaulted us and registered fake cases against us are punished,” Shaimol said.