Ernakulam district collector Suhas S's report has reportedly concluded that the police action against CPI leaders in Kochi on July 23 was misguided.
The report, which was submitted to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday, was not critical of the police lathi-charge as such. It said that the police had not followed the basic procedures before carrying out the action. The absence of an officer with magisterial powers at the site was reportedly cited.
The CPI's Muvattupuzha MLA Eldo Abraham and CPI district secretary P K Raju were among those injured in the police charge.
The police had all along claimed that it had not subjected the MLA and other leaders to violence. It had even said that the photograph showing a policeman about to thrash Eldo Abraham was doctored. An independent expert picked by the Police itself had later found that the photograph was not tampered with.
Eldo Abraham had also submitted a CT Scan report to the collector that showed a minor crack on his arms.
The report, however, was not a clean chit to the CPI. The party's actions were also criticised. The party had not taken prior permission before taking out the march to the DIG's office, the collector's report has said. It was only on the morning of the march that the party had informed the police of its decision through the Special Branch.
The collector essentially stated that the provocation came from the CPI protestors. They pushed hard at the barricades, and there were attempts to physically assault the policemen on duty. The march was taken out demanding the suspension of the Njarakkal CI who according to the CPI had sided with the SFI during the SFI-AISF clash at Vypeen College.
The ball is now in the chief minister's court. The chief minister had earlier assured CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran and CPI ministers that he would take action on the basis of the collector's report.
The incidents following the police action had witnessed Kanam Rajendran's stature as CPI's undisputed leader being questioned. During the cabinet meeting on July 24, Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan and Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar were reportedly insulted by Culture Minister A K Balan's allegedly arrogant and flippant comments on the police action.
Soon after came Kanam's comment that the police had not entered the MLA's house to beat him up. This was seen as contrary to the general feeling of outrage within the party. The party secretary, who was in his second term and was thought to be supreme, was roundly criticised in party forums. Things went out of hand with posters appearing in Alappuzha that screamed 'Remove Kanam Save CPI'. Equally shocking was the arrest of three AISF members for putting up the posters. Kanam was called Pinarayi's stooge inside the party and trolls appeared in the social media depicting his subservience to the CPM.
Kanam, however, seemed unaffected. "Whenever the CPM had strayed from Leftist ideals, I have made the CPI voice heard. But it is not possible to criticise Pinarayi Vijayan every morning," he said. He also made it clear that it was he and not the CPI's Ernakulam District Committee that had apprised the chief minister of what happened during the DIG march. "The chief minister himself had questioned the police action. What more do you want," Kanam said.
