On the night of 20 September, a group of nine activists of the Students Federation of India (CPIM student wing) assaulted policemen right in front of the Thodupuzha police station in Idukki district. The CCTV visuals of the attack were accessed and released by Manorama News. According to the news channel, the attack was led by SFI Idukki District Secretary.
The group of men can be seen intimidating the cop, who has a lathi in his hand. After what seems like a heated argument, one of the men punches the policeman, who falls in front of a speeding bike. He escapes uninjured.
The incident occurred at around 9 pm when the police tried to stop a clash between SFI activists and students of a rival group.
The SFI activists were waiting in front of the police station for the release of a few members who had been taken into custody by the police from IHRD College Thodupuzha, following a clash between the two groups, say reports.
Thodupuzha DySP NN Prasad told TNM that nine persons were booked in connection with the assault.
“Nine persons, eight of whom have not been identified yet, have been booked in the case. The one who has been identified is an SFI worker. His name is Sarath. We have got information that the rest of the men also belong to SFI. The police personnel were trying to separate the students when there was a clash with students of other groups. One police person was pushed down, but he hasn’t sustained any injury,” NN Prasad, Thodupuzha DySP said.
The nine men have been booked under Section 332 of IPC for voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty.
Sub-Inspector Vishnu Kumar told TNM that the attackers managed to flee the scene by the time the other policemen rushed to the road.
This is not the first incident of its kind. In July, a group of CPI(M) workers attacked policemen while attacking a BJP office in Thiruvananthapuram.
One of the men involved was CPI(M) counselor IP Binu, who was seen threatening a policeman who tried to stop him. Binu also hit the cop using a rod and sped away on a bike.
(This article was originally published in The News Minute.)
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