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A 26-year-old man from the Adivasi community was brutally assaulted on allegations of theft and had to undergo surgery. The victim’s family has accused the Kerala police of indifference and demanded that the case be registered under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and for attempted murder.
Though the assault took place on December 7, the case has drawn renewed attention in the wake of the recent lynching of a Dalit migrant worker in Palakkad. The family alleges that despite the seriousness of the attack, the police have booked the accused only under minor charges and have refused to invoke provisions related to attempt to murder or the SC/ST Atrocities Act.
The victim, Manikandan, a resident of Paloor in Palakkad district, was allegedly attacked by Ramaraj, a wholesale dealer of medicinal plants, who accused him of stealing the root of a medicinal plant. Manikandan sustained severe injuries, including a skull fracture, and is currently undergoing treatment at the Attappady Tribal Taluk Speciality Hospital.
After the incident, Manikandan travelled to Kozhikode to take part in election-related programmes, as he performs traditional tribal music. During an event on December 9, he reportedly collapsed after complaining of discomfort. He was rushed to the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, where doctors noticed a serious skull injury and advised immediate surgery.
“The doctors told us that surgery was urgent and any delay could endanger his life,” Manikandan’s mother, Papa, told the media.
On December 16, while Manikandan was in the ICU, police recorded Papa’s statement at the hospital. The Pudur police subsequently registered an FIR against Ramaraj under Sections 126(2) (wrongful restraint) and 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The case has gained wider attention after Ram Narayan Baghel, a 40-year-old migrant worker from Chhattisgarh, died following a mob attack in Walayar, Palakkad. Baghel had arrived in Kerala on December 13 and was lynched on December 17, triggering outrage over rising caste and identity-based violence in the region.
Read TNM’s ground report: Ground report: Visiting Kerala’s Attapallam, where a migrant worker was beaten to death