Tension prevailed in the town of Marangattupilly near Pala in Kerala's Kottayam district on Sunday following the death of a Dalit youth in police custody on Saturday.Thousands of local people on Sunday took out a protest march to the police station carrying the dead body, demanding a comprehensive probe and initiation of murder case against the responsible official.
The police blocked the march some 100 metres away from the police station by putting up barricades but the people resorted to holding a dharna on the spot. The dharna was called off late Sunday night after top police and Revenue officials held discussions with the leaders of the protestors.
As tension escalated in the area towards Sunday evening, the town and the adjoining areas were brought under unprecedented security cover with at least 200 cops deployed to guard the Marangattupally police station alone. The town had seen tension in the morning also when people punctured the tyres of a police vehicle and police responded with lathi-charge.
Sibi (39) of Parakkal in Marangattupilly, a member of CPI(M) trade union CITU, died on Saturday at the Medical College Hospital, Kottayam while in custody, probably due to a massive injury he had suffered in the head, inflicted allegedly in the torture by the police. He was taken into custody on June 29 evening for causing public nuisance after drinking and was admitted to the hospital on the following morning in an unconscious condition.
The inquest was carried out on Sunday under the supervision of Revenue Divisional Officer, Pala without police involvement as the force was facing charge in the issue. The police had no role in the postmortem also. “We have avoided even the police photographer,” said the RDO. Funeral will take place only on Monday afternoon.
The CPI(M), leader of the Opposition lDF, is expected to bring up the issue in the State Assembly through an adjournment motion and the future of protests might depend on the response of the Congress-led UDF Government.
The Government has announced a probe by the police's Crime Branch into the incident but this has not satisfied CPI(M) and local people in Marangattupally. The other main demand is that a case for murder should be registered against KA George Kutty, the Sub-Inspector in charge of the police station who had taken Sibi into custody. He is under suspension currently.
George Kutty said on Sunday that Sibi had not been tortured in the police station. "The allegation of custody torture is meant for making political mileage. He had suffered the injury that should have caused the death even before we took him into custody. The only failure on my part was that we did not subject him to medical examination before taking him in," he said.
However, Sibi's parents, who had visited him in the police station on the night of June 29, said there was no injury in his head then. "If there was such an injury that could cause death was there, the police would surely have taken him to the hospital then. They are weaving stories to conceal their crime," said VN Vasavan, CPI(M)'s Kottayam district secretary.