Family shattered by police atrocities reunites for Onasadhya after 3.5 decades

Kuttiady: Three brothers, who left home after police atrocities in illegal custody left them mentally disturbed, returned home to have Onam feast with their sister after 35 years.

Nanu (65), Balan (60), and Suresh (50) visited their sister Kakkattil Thanneerpandalil Leela’s home with the help of some good Samaritans.

Leela and her brothers Nanu, Balan, and Suresh are the children of Thanneerpandalil Narayanan Ashari and Nurumbu.

The father and four sons were taken into custody by the police on suspicion of their involvement in the murder of Kuttiady Kakkattil Hameed.

The police’s custodial torture left the brothers mentally disturbed. The cruelty shattered their lives. They left home and roamed around aimlessly.

Palliative workers from Kakkattil Sneha found the three brothers at different junctures and brought them together. They were rehabilitated at ‘Thanal’ destitute home.

Thanal representatives and palliative workers helped realise the brothers’ wish to reach home and have Onasadya with their sister.

Narayanan and his children Chandu, Nanu, Balan and Suresh suffered from police atrocities as part of custodial interrogation in connection with the death of Kakkattil native Nambodankandi Hameed in March 1985.

The police crime detachment wing, which was under pressure for nabbing the culprits, took Narayanan and his sons into illegal detention, as the body was found on the premises of the family's residence. The police wanted them to confess to the crime.

After assaulting them brutally for days together, police released them for want of evidence against them. 

But by then, all five men were mentally disturbed after brutal custodial torture for many days.

Chandu, who was seriously injured in the police assault, died in a few months. Nanu, who feared death, fled his hometown.

Their father, Narayanan, who used to roam around on the streets for a long, collapsed and died in Kakkattil town the day the verdict was pronounced in the Hameed murder case. Suresh and Balan also roamed the streets with unstable minds.

Their sister Leela was left without any support. In 2016, Palliative volunteers found Balan and took him to the ‘Thanal’. Suresh reached the shelter home in 2018 and Nanu in 2020.

Kunnummal block panchayat vice-president Muhammed Kakkattil, palliative volunteers Chandroth Sooppi and P M Ashraf welcomed the brothers who reached Thanneerpanthal home for Onam. The brothers returned to Thanal by evening after a chit-chat with neighbours and residents.