MP Shafi Parambil was injured in a police lathi charge.
Kozhikode: Police on Saturday registered cases against 700 people, including Congress MP Shafi Parambil, for multiple offences including rioting, assaulting officers, and obstructing public servants during a UDF rally at Perambra.
According to officials, UDF workers and leaders held a rally on Friday night that blocked public pathways. When police attempted to manage the situation, the crowd attacked officers with stones to prevent them from performing their duties.
Cases were filed under sections 189 (unlawful assembly), 191 (rioting), 285 (obstruction in public way), 121 (causing hurt to deter public servant), and 132 (assault to deter public servant) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against Parambil and 699 others.
During the incident, Parambil sustained injuries in a police lathi charge at the rally. The confrontation occurred when UDF and LDF rallies faced off at the Perambra bus stand. The tensions followed a hartal called by the Congress to protest Thursday’s police action against its leaders and Kerala Students' Union (KSU) activists, after violence erupted over the college union election at CKGM Government College, Perambra.
Police reportedly used tear gas and resorted to lathi charges to disperse the crowd. Television visuals on Saturday showed Parambil being struck on the head with police lathis. He subsequently underwent surgery at a private hospital for injuries to his nose.
Senior Congress leaders M K Raghavan and Mullappally Ramachandran criticised the police action. Raghavan, the Congress MP from Kozhikode, described the incident as an example of police brutality during a peaceful rally, claiming Parambil and other UDF leaders were attacked while attempting to defuse the situation.
Ramachandran, former KPCC chief, said the assault on Parambil cannot be taken lightly, noting it is not the first time he has been attacked. “This is unacceptable. We strongly condemn it. There will be statewide protests against this,” he stated. He further alleged that the attack was intended to divert public attention from the Sabarimala gold issue and Enforcement Directorate proceedings involving Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's son.
With PTI inputs