THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday came down heavily on the "murder" of a youth at the Fort police station allegedly following use of third degree torture. He said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy should give up the Home portfolio owning moral responsibility for the incident.

In a statement, Mr. Vijayan said Udayakumar's death was reminiscent of the Emergency excesses and demanded that a case for murder be charged against the police personnel concerned. The police could not be allowed to beat innocents to death in the name of investigations. There was no criminal charge against Udayakumar. He was picked up merely because he was seen near a history-sheeter. Mr. Vijayan said custodial deaths were becoming a daily occurrence under UDF rule.

Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has asked the Chief Minister to take stringent action against the police personnel responsible for the custodial death.

In a statement here on Saturday, he said the victim, Udayakumar, was the only support for his poor mother. The police nabbed him while he was on his going to buy clothes with the Rs.4,000 he had got by way of salary and bonus from the junk shop where he worked. The CPI legislators Mankode Radhakrishnan and N. Rajan have demanded that the Government take full responsibility for the care of Udayakumar's mother. They said the incident showed that lock-up repression was still continuing. They questioned the Chief Minister's contention that the common man could now go to the police station without fear. It was only recently that the Human Rights Commission visited the Fort Police station and took note of the violation of human rights there. They said the Chief Minister ensure that all those responsible for his death were punished.

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