A police official belonging to the SP camp in Peroorkada in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, was suspended from service on Saturday for allegedly sharing defamatory posts on Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Facebook. According to media reports, SS Sarath, a police constable was placed under suspension by the Special Armed Police Commandant, TF Xavier, based on a directive from the police headquarters.

As per a report by Times of India (TOI), Xavier said that the suspended police officer has been sharing social media posts defaming the CM as well as the government. He also said that police officials are banned from making any defamatory remarks or criticising the government on social media. The report also stated that Sarath used to frequently share posts defaming the CM and the government in his various social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp.

An inquiry into this issue began after a resident from Valakom in Kollam, which also happens to be Sarath’s home village, lodged a complaint, pointing out Sarath’s posts.

Incidentally, Sarath was also among the three police officials who were assaulted by Students Federation of India (SFI) activists in Thiruvananthapuram in December 2018. The incident took place when the police officials stopped a couple of students on a bike for violating traffic rules in the busy Palayam junction. On stopping the bike, a few students belonging to SFI from the nearby University College came running and starting assaulting the police officials. Sarath was hospitalised following the attack.

As per the TOI report, three days before police constable Sarath was suspended, an SFI activist named Nazeem of the University College, who is also a prime suspect in the assault case, had surrendered before the Cantonment police. Apart from this, the police had also previously arrested four students with regard to the case.