Jailed teacher back from Maldives

K.K. Jayachandran, a 51-year-old school teacher from Kohinoor, Malappuram, who was in the Maldivian jail for over eight months now, allegedly on false complaints of physically abusing a student, reached home safely here on Friday after the Maldivian authorities released him on Thursday evening.

Mr. Jayachandran, an English teacher at Faafu Feali Atoll School in the Island republic for the last seven years, returned home leaving behind the hardships of over 250 days in four different jails in Maldives. “It is literally a rebirth for me,” Mr. Jayachandran told The Hindu over phone, on his way to Kozhikode from Bangalore, where he landed on Thursday.

Mr. Jayachandran, who was arrested on April 5 this year, said his release could not have been possible without the interventions of his family members, friends, and media organisations. “I was completely helpless ever since I was arrested,” he said.