KOZHIKODE: The police slapped sections of UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act) on M.N. Ravunni, leader of Porattam, alleged to be a frontal organisation of Maoist movements, in two cases relating to campaigning for the boycott of Assembly elections held in May this year. Sections 39 (support to a terrorist organisation) and 124 A (sedition) of the UAPA were invoked against Ravunni, 66, in two cases registered in Padinjarethara and Vellamunda police stations in Mananthavadi taluk.
There is a case in Thrissur against him under UAPA which is under the consideration of the High Court. Mr Ravunni was taken into custody on Saturday in front of the mortuary at Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, when he was protesting the encounter killing of two Maoists in Nilambur. District Sessions Court on Sunday remanded him to judicial custody and he was later taken to Kannur central prison. Porattam workers alleged that the arrest is an attempt to silence the voices of protest against the anti-people policies of the government. “It is part of a conspiracy between police and the state government,” the organisation said in a press release.
