Hartal in Kerala today after police manhandle Jishnu Prannoy's mother

Thiruvananthapuram: A day after late 18-year-old student Jishnu Prannoy's parents were manhandled, Kerala on Thursday is observing a shutdown to protest the police high-handedness.

The dawn to dusk state-wide shutdown was called by the Congress-led United Democratic Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party after Jishnu 's mother Mahija, along with few of their friends and relatives moving towards the state police chief`s office on Wednesday, was stopped and dragged by the police.

The Kerala Left Democratic Front (LDF) government today came under attack over police 'high-handedness' against a mother seeking justice for her late son, who allegedly had killed himself the following harassment by college authorities.

Mahija and Ashokan, parents of the first-year student at a private engineering college, had come here from Kozhikode to sit on an indefinite fast against the alleged delay in the booking of all the accused in connection with their son's death.

The shutdown saw only private vehicles plying on the road while markets, shops, and establishments were closed.

The vehicles taking the staff members of the ISRO units in the state capital were taken in convoys.

Since taxis and three-wheelers were also off the road, passengers, who arrived at the railway stations, found themselves stranded.

"I have nothing against the state government and I am protesting against the way the police has been handling the case of my son and hence we marched to the police headquarters," said Mahija to the media from her hospital bed.

Even while the college chairman where Prannoy studied is currently out on bail, the mother is of the firm opinion that the police has not done a clean job in going ahead with the case in the manner in which it should have been done.

On Wednesday, Thiruvananthapuram witnessed high drama in front of the DGP's office as police evicted Jishnu's parents from the site and arrested them without letting them meet the DGP.

Jishnu's maternal uncle alleged the police kicked him and assaulted his sister Mahija, Jishnu's mother, who lay on the road and protested.

The incident took a political turn, with various parties, including the Congress-led UDF and the BJP condemning the incident and calling for a state-wide hartal on Thursday.

 

Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said a group of persons other than the family members had tried to gain entry to the DGP's office, which resulted in a commotion and the mother fell on the road.

A self-styled godman was also among them, he said.

However, he said IGP Manoj Abraham has been asked to give a report on what exactly had happened.

Mahija and her brother were admitted to the Trivandrum medical college hospital after they complained of uneasiness and body pain.

On the chief minister's directives, the DGP met Mahija at the hospital.

Expressing his displeasure, CPI(M) veteran VS Achuthanandan called up DGP Loknath Behra and spoke to him.

While Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said he was "pained" at the government failure to understand the sorrow of a mother who had lost her son, former chief minister Oommen Chandy termed the police action as 'shameful.'

BJP state president Kummanam Rajashekaran said the 'police brutality' seen on Wednesday was worse than what happened during the Emergency.

"The Pinarayi government will be washed away in the tears of the mother," he said.

Various youth organisations and women's outfits took out marches and protested across the state.

Jishnu, a first-year student of the Nehru College of Engineering in Thrissur, was found hanging in the college hostel in January following alleged harassments by college authorities. (With PTI inputs)