A Muslim couple was allegedly beaten up by a group of people at the Central Railway Station in Thiruvananthapuram. 29-year-old Thiruvananthapuram native Shameer and his wife, 27-year-old Sajina, were onboard the Thiruvananthapuram-Nilambur Rajya Rani Link Express along with their two children — a four-year-old son and an 11-month-old daughter — on Saturday. Around 11 pm, Shameer said that a group of people rushed inside suddenly and started beating him.
“We were on the train. Suddenly, a group of people rushed into the train and started beating me. They grabbed my hair, hit me on my head and body. They even tried to tear my wife’s clothes. It is not brave to attack a woman. They dragged us from the train and took us to a location near Sreekumar Theatre in Thampanoor, which is a prime spot,” he said.
Shameer alleged that one of the people who beat him up was Nemom BJP councillor MR Gopan’s son Vivek.
Speaking to TNM, Nemom BJP councillor MR Gopan denied his son’s involvement in the incident and said he was not at the spot at the time.
“There was no attack as alleged by the complainants. There was a rift, but there was nothing communal in what had happened,” he said.
Once Shameer and his family were left near Sreekumar Theatre, he said that they approached the police to lodge a complaint.
“After they left, we approached the Thampanoor Police Station to lodge a complaint. I asked the police officials to let me go to the hospital. The police personnel on duty was rude to me — when I requested him to allow my family to sit at the station till I come back from the hospital, he asked me why they should take care of my wife and children,” Shameer said.
According to Shameer, the reason he was attacked was that he supported Vijith, a Dalit man who recently married an upper-caste woman.
The couple also alleged that the Thampanoor police refused to investigate the case despite them complaining about the incident. They also claimed that Vanchiyoor Circle Inspector Suresh unnecessarily interfered in order to hush up the case, and wished to settle the case at the Nemom Police Station instead of Thampanoor.
“After a while, Pettah CI Suresh arrived at the Thampanoor station. He asked to settle the issue at Nemom Police Station. I don’t know why an issue that happened in the limits of the Thampanoor Police Station limit must be settled at the Nemom Police Station. At the time, Pappanamcode councillor Saji — who is also a BJP member — arrived there. I was then taken to the Nemom Police Station that night and was allowed to go Sunday morning,” he said.
CI Suresh, however, denied any involvement in the matter.
“It’s not my jurisdiction. Then why should I interfere in the issue? I didn’t go to Thampanoor station,” he said.
Shameer also alleged that when the Thampanoor Police was approached, his complaint was thrown away.
“I then admitted my family in the hospital after we were let off. I was also admitted to the General Hospital on Sunday and discharged on Monday morning. On Sunday, when my friends approached the Thampanoor police to lodge a complaint, the Sub-Inspector (Crime) threw away the complaint,” Shameer claimed.
The Thampanoor police said that they did not register the case as the Railway police had to book the accused.
“It happened at the Railway station and the Railway police have registered the case. We had received the complaint, but since the incident took place at the railway station we were not able to proceed with it,” said Sajikumar, the Thampanoor CI.
Shameer, however, said that it is mysterious that the Railway Police did not intervene when the incident took place.
“The Railway Police didn’t do anything despite the incident taking place at the central station in the capital city, which is mysterious. Only on Monday morning did the railway police call me to ask what had happened,” he said.
The Thiruvananthapuram Railway Police told TNM that they registered a case on Monday.
However, Shameer said that he would be filing a complaint with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the City Police Commissioner. The Social Democratic Party of India on Monday protested at the Thampanoor station for not registering a case in the incident.