“I don’t know..I did not take it,” a frightened man in his fifties or sixties can be seen pleading to his son, who in a frenzy, was seen beating up his father in a video. The son was allegedly angry after a liquor bottle, which he had saved for a ‘dry day,’ went missing. The video of the man thrashing his father brutally, in front of his mother, had gone viral on Facebook.
The incident happened on 1 October in Kerala, a day before Gandhi Jayanthi, which is a ‘dry day’ in the state, with liquor shops remaining closed.
Twenty-nine-year-old Ratheesh, in the video, can be seen beating his frightened father, stripping him and knocking him down to the ground. He can be again seen kicking the hapless father who was lying on the ground, till another person is seen coming and pushing him away. During the incident, a lady can be seen trying to save her husband from her son.
According to police officials, Ratheesh realised that the liquor bottle which he had saved at home to drink on the ‘dry day’ had gone missing. Ratheesh then started to thrash his father brutally, alleging that he was the one who had taken it.
According to officials of Kurathikad police station, Ratheesh is an alcoholic and would often create trouble at home.
The video of the incident was initially posted on a Facebook group called Green Kerala on 1 October. Though later the video was later removed from the page, by then, it had gone viral.
Kurathikad police have registered a case against Ratheesh following the incident. He has been booked under Sections 308 (Attempt to commit culpable homicide), 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation), 427 (Mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 294 (b) (sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place) of Indian Penal Code.
Meanwhile, Ratheesh has gone absconding after the incident. “His mobile phone is switched off and he is not at home. We have decided to present the video to the court as evidence,” said a police official.
(Published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)
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