Kochi: Alan, 7, from Puthuvype was the hero at the State Human Rights Commi-ssion sitting here on Wednesday when it began its probe against police action against Puthuvype residents who took out a march in the city on June 16 against the LPG plant coming up in the island.
Alan confronted then deputy commissioner of police, Kochi, G.H. Yatish Chandra insisting that the police had beaten up the protesters when they took out a protest march at the High Court junction in Ernakulam. Mr Chandra, at present district police chief of Thrissur rural, tried to convince the commission chairman that he, leading the police contingent, did not manhandle women and child protesters, but was caught unawares when the boy stood by his statement that he and his brother, who came with their parents to the protest venue, were beaten up by the police.
Though Mr Chandra produced a video in which “women and children appear to be pleasant and smiling,” the protesters from Puthuvype questioned its authenticity.
The protesters and the police officer had heated arguments and created noisy scenes during the sitting. Commission acting chairman P. Mohanadas asked Mr Yathish Chandra to submit an affidavit on the incident. The panel which heard the arguments of both the police officer and the protestors directed the police to produce the CCTV footages from four police stations in the city where the protesters were kept in custody. A notice will be served on the cops concerned in this regard soon. “The next hearing will be held in September on complaints of manhandling the protestors by the police,” said the commission chairman. The commission settled 10 complaints out of the 64 grievances it considered. It also got eight new complaints.
