Kerala Security Employees Union man threatens suicide

Kochi: Tense moments prevailed at the Civil station here for nearly an hour on Wednesday when a leader of the Kerala Security Employees Union poured kerosene all over and threatened self immolation alleging failure of authorities to take action against security agencies “exploiting” staff.

It all started when the AITUC-affiliated Kerala Security Employees staged a protest march at the collectorate premises at 12 noon. Soon four members of the union went to the Regional Joint Labour Commissioner’s (RJLC) office at the fourth floor of the civil station to submit a memorandum.

However, one of them, 53-year-old N Sasikumar, who is the district secretary of the union, suddenly poured kerosene all over and took out a cigarette lighter from his pocket. Amidst slogan shouting he threatened to set himself ablaze unless the demands of the union were met.

Sasikumar and his friend Vinod were ousted by a security agency two months back after they demanded higher pay. He kept on asking for written assurance by the RJLC against such employeers and at one point threatened to jump from the fourth floor when certain collectorate staff tried to hold him.

The Fire Force and the police soon reached the spot and tried to pacify him, but to no effect. This continued for another hour, and finally Additional District Magistrate at C K Prakash intervened on the direction of the district collector.

“He promised to give a written assurance to look into the issue following which Sasikumar called off his protest. He was asked to take a bath at the toilet next to the office of the district labour officer,” police said.

However, the police took no case against Sasikumar, a Kollam native. “No case was registered in the absence of any complaint and also in the wake of a recent court direction to not to take case for attempted suicides,” they said.