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ASI killed in college campus violence

CHANGANASSERY: An assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of police was killed while trying to disperse a mob of students on the NSS Hindu College campus here on Friday.

The police have rounded up at least a dozen people, many of them students belonging to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), in connection with the incident.

M.C. Elias, 47, of Changanassery police station, was killed when he tried to restrain the opposing camps of students belonging to the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and the ABVP, who have been on the warpath for the past few days following disputes over the campus election on October 18.

Another police officer who fainted in shock on witnessing the gruesome scene has been moved to a private hospital nearby.

Police sources say Friday’s incidents have their roots in the campus unrest which has been snowballing for the past few days. Violent incidents were witnessed on the campus on Thursday and the college authorities dismissed classes for the day.

Since the terminal examinations were on, the college reopened on Friday and the opposing factions, which had a minor skirmish in the town earlier in the morning, gathered on the campus.

According to one version, one of the factions was forced out of the campus through one gate by the police and the other was being chased through another gate when the ASI was hit with a wooden rod on the back of his head.

He was immediately taken to Mannam Medical Mission Hospital and later to the Government taluk hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Senior police officers, including Inspector-General of Police Vinson M. Paul, immediately arrived at the spot. The body was moved to the Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam, for autopsy and later handed over to the family. Elias belongs to Mattathil House, Nalunnakkal, near Vakathanam. He is survived by his wife, Suja, a teacher, and three children, Sherin, ninth standard student; Akhil, sixth standard student; and Sneha, who studies in class 3.

Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who visited the scene of crime and the bereaved family, told presspersons that the government had decided to offer financial assistance of Rs. 6 lakh, over and above the normal assistance given to an official dying in harness.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Sangh Parivar organisations and the United Democratic Front have called for a districtwide hartal on Saturday in protest against the killing of the police official. The police raided offices of Sangh Parivar organisations in many parts of the district and took a few senior leaders into preventive custody.

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