The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Opposition walkout over custodial death

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 14, 2006

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Opposition walkout over custodial death

Special Correspondent

Minister's statement gross distortion of truth, says CPI(M) MLA

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition LDF members walked out of the Assembly on Wednesday to protest against the Government's failure to initiate stern action against the police personnel responsible for the custodial death of Sathyan of Aryanad, near here, on February 9 and the rejection of an adjournment motion sought to be moved by them.

Leading the walk-out, Opposition Leader V. S. Achuthanandan accused the Government of gross insensitivity in its handling of the case and sought payment of at least Rs.5 lakhs as ex gratia to Sathyan's wife and children. The deceased had no case against him and was the victim of third degree by the police, he alleged.

Earlier, Finance Minister Vakkom Purushothaman, who was deputising for Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, said Sathyan was caught on February 4 with a can of illicit arrack and produced before the Judicial Magistrate, Nedumangad, the same evening and remanded to judicial custody.

He fell ill the same night and was shifted to the Medical College Hospital and he died on February 9.

His life could have been saved if his relatives had enquired about his whereabouts. The Crime Detachment had conducted an inquiry into the matter after Sathyan's death and further investigations had been entrusted with a Dy.SP, he added.

Pirappancode Murali (CPI), who sought leave for the adjournment motion, termed the Minister's statement a `gross distortion of truth' and pointed out that Sathyan was beaten up by a constable named Surendran before hundreds of people in the locality.

The charge that he was carrying a can of arrack was foisted on him after he was taken to the Aryanad police station. Although his relatives had gone in search of him, they were not allowed to see him. After Sathyan's death, the police sent a telegram in the name of his father, who had died 26 years ago, Mr. Murali said.

G. Karthikeyan (Congress), the local MLA, said the Government must entrust investigation into the death with a senior official.

His statement that he knew Sathyan for more than 14 years drew loud jeers from the Opposition members who wanted him to clarify whether Sathyan was an arrack distiller or vendor as was being claimed by the police, but in vain.

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