Two Dalit sisters, 30-year old Akhila and 25-year old Anjana who are daughters of Kuttymaakkoolil Block secretary and Dalit Congress leader N Rajan of Kuniyil House, were on Saturday remanded to Kannur Central Jail by the district court for allegedly attacking a CPI(M) party worker at the local party office in Kuttymaakkoolil in Thalaserry.
Sub-Inspector C Shaju had apparently summoned the sisters to the police station for an enquiry and subsequently arrested them for the reported crime. Akhila had her one-and-a-half year old baby with her when she was remanded to custody along with her sister.
The incident triggered protests by Congress workers, who marched to the Thalaserry police station led by Kerala Congress Pradesh Committee (KPCC) president VM Sudheeran to condemn the arrest.
It is reported that the sisters had barged into the CPI(M) local party office to question the continued harassment and physical assault on their father using their caste name, following which a Left worker Shijin was supposedly injured in the ensuing scuffle.
Rajan’s daughters, his house and car were later attacked by CPI(M) sympathizers and a complaint too was lodged in this regard. Three CPI(M) workers were detained and taken into custody for the same.
Talking to reporters, Rajan termed his daughters’ arrest as an extremely cruel act allegedly carried out under the behest of the Leftist party as a sort of pressure tactic to rein him in.
According to Rajan, police sources had confided to him that they had no choice but to bow down to pressure from above. When questioned about the matter, Kerala DGP Loknath Behra assured that the incident is being looked into and that he has sought the requisite information from the state North Zone ADGP Nitin Agarwal, IPS.