The victim, 35-year-old Sudheer Khan, alleged that the police started hitting him by the roadside near the Poovar junction, and later assaulted him in custody as well.
Screen grab / Mathrubhumi News
In a fresh incident of police excesses reported in Kerala, a man from Thiruvananthapuram was brutally assaulted, allegedly by a few police officers at the Poovar station, on Sunday, September 19. The man, identified as 35-year-old Sudheer Khan, an auto rickshaw driver, was assaulted when he had reportedly stopped near the Poovar junction to relieve himself. He alleged that the police took him into custody and further assaulted him at the station. After the incident made news, the Sub-Inspector of the Poovar police station, Sanal, was suspended by the Thiruvananthapuram Rural Police Chief on Monday evening. According to reports, the incident occured as the man was waiting at the Poovar junction after dropping his wife at a bus station. In an interview given by the victim to various news channels, he alleged that the police, including the Sub-Inspector, started thrashing him for no reason. "When they asked me why I was standing there, I replied that I had kept my bike aside and was going to urinate. The police then asked me to show them my license. But before I could take that, four to five police officers surrounded me and started thrashing me with their batons without giving any reason," Sudheer Khan told Mathrubhumi News. He further alleged that, after being beaten by the roadside, he was taken to the police station, where the assault continued. "By around 11 am they took me into custody. Inside the station also I was beaten. My head hit an iron rod. Though I kept asking the reason why I was being beaten they did not say anything. I even asked them to take me to a hospital, but they did not and said they'll remand me at 5 pm when the Chief Inspector comes," Sudheer said. Asianet News reported that the Poovar police said Sudheer was taken into custody as he was allegedly disturbing tourists. In the visuals aired by the media, large bruise marks were seen on Sudheer's leg. He is presently undergoing treatment, according to reports. Speaking to TNM, officials of the Thiruvananthapuram Rural Police confirmed the Sub Inspector's suspension. "We received a complaint about the attack. Based on that the Special Branch had conducted a preliminary inquiry and submitted a report to the district police chief. The suspension is based on that and a detailed probe will continue," the official said. In the recent past, multiple incidents of police excesses were reported in Kerala, which created outrage amongst the public. In August this year, an eight-year-old girl and her father in Attingal were falsely accused of theft by an officer of the Pink Police force. Videos of the officer falsely accusing the duo of theft and publicly harassing them had gone viral on social media. In another incident in August, a 65-year-old woman vendor selling fish on the streetside in Anchuthengu was harassed by police who accused her of violating COVID-19 protocol. Videos of the woman crying after police officials threw away her basket full of fish had also grabbed attention. In July, a Plus Two student in Kollam district was charged for questioning police officers who were allegedly roughing up an elderly man waiting in front of a bank. Read: In another case of police excess, Kerala cops accused of locking kid inside car alone
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