Kerala police on Monday filed a case against 15 persons, including two Congress MLAs for allegedly trying to forcibly release students from a police lockup. Congress MLAs - Roji M John and Saneeshkumar Joseph - and others tried to free two students arrested in connection with an issue in their college in nearby Kalady.
John and Saneeshkumar created a "terror atmosphere" when they reached the Kalady police station on Sunday to forcefully release the students, said a police official.
One of the arrested students was Kerala Students Union (KSU) worker and the second one was his friend. KSU is the student wing of the Congress in Kerala.
Police said the KSU worker and another student were arrested for allegedly obstructing the duty of the police, who had reached Kalady Sree Sankara College in connection with a case.
According to the police, 15 persons, including John and Saneeshkumar were booked under nine sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 143 (unlawful assembly), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 452 (House-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint).
In a Facebook post, John, who is also secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), said they intervened when the police were trying to "hunt down" the KSU workers at the behest of the ruling CPI(M).
He alleged that the KSU unit president and his friend, who were not even named in an FlR, were arrested from their homes at midnight, handcuffed, and made to sit on the platform of a police jeep before being brought to the police station and locked up in a cell without even providing a glass of water.
Condemning the police action against the KSU workers, the MLA said no Congress worker can sit silently and witness such acts committed by the police.
"That is why we reacted strongly. If the police act impartially, we will cooperate. If they (police) take CPI(M)'s quotation and hunt down KSU activists and Congressmen, then the Congress workers will react like this again," he said, adding such cases will be fought politically and legally.
Meanwhile, ruling CPI(M) sources alleged that the KSU worker and his friend were arrested in connection with a ragging case at the college.
They said workers of various organisations allied with the CPI(M) would hold protest marches towards MLA John's office to protest against his "illegal acts".
(With PTI inputs)
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