Youths responding to a social media call enforced a hartal in different parts of the State on Monday in protest against the Kathua rape and murder.
In certain isolated pockets the hartal turned violent, prompting the police to swing into action and declare prohibitory orders in places such as Tanur, Tirur and Parappanangadi in Malappuram. Parts of Palakkad also witnessed attempts by the hartal supporters to force closure of shops.
Major political parties came out against the hartal, but it affected travellers and shoppers when KSRTC buses came under stone-pelting and traders downed shutters.
A senior police officer said the hartal was anything but impromptu. Two political organisations suspected of having a radical edge had planned and executed the action. However, its organisers had chosen to remain behind the scenes. The State woke up to the strike only when television channels echoed the disruption across their networks.
“The source of the hartal call is under investigation now,” said Kannur Deputy Superintendent of Police P.P. Sadanandan. Some of the slogans raised by hartal supporters here were communally provocative, he said, adding that they did not appear to have the backing of any organisation.
Malappuram District Police Chief Debeshkumar Behara said prohibitory orders were clamped using Sections 78 and 79 of the Police Act to protect the life and property of the public. Public meetings and rallies have been banned along the coastal region for a week. The police said amassing of stones and weapons too would be considered a crime.
250 protesters held
The State police have rounded up at least 250 persons in connection with the hartal. At least 30 police officers were injured in the violence that hit the northern districts. The police baton-charged hartal supporters in different parts of Kerala.
State Police Chief Loknath Behera said the strike supporters had used faceless social media groups to amplify their strike call. He termed them disrupters and anti-socials who had exploited the reach of the social media to spring a surprise strike on the people. They had attacked and injured KSRTC drivers, halted traffic and disrupted trade and hampered normal life.
Another officer said the police had identified the real perpetrators of the hartal. They included top leaders of two political organisations believed to be dominated by radicals.
The Bharatiya Janata Party blamed the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the National Development Front (NDF) for the violence that rocked North Kerala, particularly Tanur, Tirur and Parapangadi which were under prohibitory orders. They accused the Communist Party of India (Marxist) of supporting the strike. It moved the SPC for action against the lawbreakers.
The SDPI, the NDF and the CPI(M) have since denied the accusation.
The Indian Union Muslim League also said its cadres were in no way involved in the violence.
The hartal, initiated by the hitherto unknown “Janakeeya Vedi” also resulted in violence in parts of Palakkad. In Thiruvananthapuram, strike supporters shut down Chalai market. They halted traffic in Nedumangad, Vellanad, Balarampuram, and Panoor. The hartal was total in some small pockets in the district.
