Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) has announced a State-wide dawn-to-dusk hartal on Thursday to protest the alleged manhandling of Mahija, mother of Jishnu Prannoy , the engineering student who had died under mysterious circumstances in January.
The police prevented her and other relatives from staging a sit-in before the police headquarters here this morning.
Mahija, her husband Asokan, her brother Sreejith and about a dozen relatives, who had arrived before the police headquarters to stage the sit-in to press for the arrest of those responsible for the death of the boy, who was a student of the Nehru College of Engineering and Research Centre, Pampadi, Thrissur, were met by a large posse of police personnel and were told that agitations are not permitted befor the police headquarters.
What followed was a heated argument between the two sides and, in the ensuing melee, Sreejith was overpowered by the police personnel, allegedly beaten up and dragged away. Although Mahija lay on the floor resisting forcible removal, she too was dragged away from the scene, after much pushing and pulling. She was admitted to the government hospital, Peroorkada, in the city.
State Police Chief Loknath Behera arrived at the hospital a little later and was greeted by BJP and Congress workers who had by then gathered in large numbers. Mr. Behera, who had reached the hospital on an instruction from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, said that the allegation that police had manhandled Mahija and others would be looked into.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said that the manner in which police had behaved towards Mahija and others was a shame for the State.
