Hours after a Kerala man succumbed to burns after he was accidentally set on fire while trying to thwart an attempt by the police to evict his family, his wife Ambili too passed away. The couple belonging to Neyyattinkara in Thiruvananthapuram sustained burn injuries after 47-year-old Rajan was accidently set ablaze on December 22. Rajan died on Sunday night while 40-year-old Ambili died on Monday evening.
After an emotional appeal by the couple’s children to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Rajan’s body was cremated in the same land from where the family was supposed to be evicted. An official of the Neyyattinkara police told TNM that Ambili’s body is being kept at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital and will be brought home after a COVID-19 test result.
On December 22, officials of the Neyyattinkara police station and a judicial commission appointed by a Neyyattinkara court had gone to Rajan's house at Nellimoodu, asking the family to vacate the house immediately, to implement a court order. The move to evict his family came on the basis of a complaint by a neighbour in June, according to reports in Malayalam media. Earlier in June too, there was an attempt to evict the family from a shed that Rajan constructed on the land.
In a video of the incident on December 22, Rajan can be seen pouring petrol over him and his wife, asking officials not to come closer to him. The couple caught fire when a police official attempted to knock the lighter out of his hand. Assistant Sub-Inspector Anil Kumar also sustained minor burns while trying to rescue the couple.
The family told Asianet News that the police were in a haste to evict them as they knew that there would be a stay order and pointed out that it came soon after the incident. “The counsel whom my father assigned first for the case betrayed him. The police and the plaintiff knew that there would be stay on the (Munsiff) court order and hence the police came to evict us. It was Anil Kumar who is responsible for this," Rajan’s son, Ranjith, said.
Watch video: Youngest son trying to bury Rajan's body
So called #KeralaNo1
— Sanakan Venugopal (@vssanakan) December 29, 2020
"You (Kerala police) killed my father, only my mother is left( unfortunately she too succumbed after this), and now you are not allowing to bury them."
This is Ranjith, son of the Dalit couple who self immolated to resist eviction. pic.twitter.com/WaUzOkjbRz
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala urged the government to take over the protection of the children.