‘Even wild animals aren’t this cruel’: CCTV footage exposes brutal police attack on Youth Congress member in Kerala

THRISSUR: CCTV visuals of a Youth Congress worker being tortured at Kunnamkulam police station surfaced in the public domain, triggering widespread protests among Congress workers and civil society activists.Meanwhile, based on visuals circulated in the media, state human rights commission filed suo moto case for the reported torture of V S Sujith, Youth Congress Chowannur mandalam president, by police. SHRC member V Geetha directed district police chief to conduct an inquiry and submit a report within three months.Congress and Youth Congress workers on Wednesday took out a march to Kunnamkulam police station to protest against Sujith's illegal detention and assault.

DCC president Joseph Tajet, who inaugurated the march, said even wild animals wouldn't be so cruel to human beings. Another round of marches on Sept 10 will be held to the offices where the four officers are working now, he added.Youth Congress Kozhikode district committee took out a march to Kozhikode city commissioner's office on Wednesday afternoon demanding the dismissal of the police officers. Police blocked the march before it reached commissioner's office, leading to a scuffle when activists tried to breach the police cordon.

Opposition leader V D Satheesan, senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala and KPCC president Sunny Joseph demanded stern action against the police officers immediately. They alleged that CM was protecting criminals in uniform.Police had taken Sujith into custody from Chowannur near Kunnamkulam on April 5, 2023. Sujith, who is also a head priest at a nearby temple, had questioned police personnel, when they allegedly intimidated some of his friends standing on the roadside.

Police took him to Kunnamkulam station and assaulted him. Four officers who allegedly tortured him are SI Nuhman, senior civil police officer Sasidharan and civil police officers Sandeep and Sajeevan.Sujith alleged Suhair, a police driver, had also tortured him but it wasn't visible in the CCTV visuals. Suhair moved to the revenue department and is no longer a policeman. Subsequently, police charged him for obstructing them while being in an inebriated condition.

However, medical tests proved that Sujith hadn't consumed alcohol and so the magistrate granted him bail.Later, Sujith filed a petition before judicial first class magistrate, Kunnamkulam, demanding action against the four police officers, as his similar pleas before police higher-ups didn't elicit any response. Magistrate L Jayanthan, in his order, stated that from available evidence, it was clear that the accused were involved in causing hurt to the complainant (Sujith).

He ordered inquiry against the four accused officers after registering a case against them under Sections 323 and 324 read with 34 of the IPC.Sujith struggled to get the CCTV visuals of Kunnamkulam police station on the day he was taken into custody. He finally got a copy after he filed an RTI appeal.Interestingly, ACP K C Sethu, who held an internal inquiry, endorsed that the officers had tortured Sujith.Action taken against officers: DIGMeanwhile, Thrissur range DIG S Harishankar confirmed the police torture. He said departmental action was taken against three police officers then, while one was found not guilty. He said the increments of the three guilty officers were stopped for two years. He added there was no possibility of reopening departmental inquiries against them, as they were already punished for the offence. He said the case was under Kunnamkulam magistrate court's consideration and further action would be taken based on the court pronouncements.