Kerala

Two men returning from Perumal Murugan solidarity meet detained for looking 'unkempt'

Written by : TNM

The News Minute| February 2, 2015| 7.00 pm ISTThat being well-dressed could earn someone a brownie point, over another, seems to be a common notion. However, the opposite, being shabbily dressed will also not be spared- it could now land a person in jail.Two men in Kannur in Kerala got to experience this first hand.On Sunday, the two men were waiting in the Kannur bus stand when the police picked them up and detained them. The reason for their detention being that they were shabbily dressed, had unkempt hair and beard and were walking around in a 'suspicious manner'. Later, some local media suspected that the men detained had Maoist links.The men had to spend one night in the Kannur Police station before they were let go on Monday morning.The police agreed that they detained the men by mistake.“The men looked shabby and had unkempt beard. They looked suspicious. Also they were not answering our questions properly. So detained them”, a policeman from the Kannur Police station told The News Minute.It was later found out that the men were returning home after attending an event held in support of author Perumal Murugan. Read- 'Author Perumal Murugan has died' , hounded by Hindutva groups author puts up poignant postThat the men were not ‘properly’ dressed and thus were suspected to be Maoists could be taken as an instance of confirming to stereotypes. In another world and a better debate, we could perhaps defend the fashion sense of Maoist.TweetFollow @thenewsminute

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