THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Stop attacking me, for I’ve fulfilled your wish/The Christ has put down the thorny crown, and the temporary coronet is now placed in the glass showcase...
These lines are from ‘Maattam’, a poem written by a police officer, who was injured while trying to prevent a political clash and later served a transfer order.
Vinod Valiyattoor, former principal sub-inspector of Mananthavady station, and four others were attacked while trying to stop a clash between workers of the CPM and CPI in the town on November 3. Vinod’s hand was fractured when he tried to deflect a blow of a wooden log aimed at his head. His arm broke and with the bone protruding, he was admitted to the Kozhikode Medical College in an unconscious state.
He remained bedridden for 45 days. When he came to, a second blow was awaiting him in the form of a transfer order. The order had come even as he had 18 months left for a routine transfer.
It is with his poem that Vinod tries to make sense of what happened. “I did not fear the squabble because I did not take sides. I was helpless, but was at peace with myself. I’m a stranger now, attack me not,” goes another line of his poem.
However, Congress workers and other locals say the attack and the subsequent transfer was masterminded by the CPM, which was irked over Vinod’s reluctance to obey its diktat.
But Vinod denies this theory. “I don’t find any reason for the CPM workers to target me. I do not wish to comment more,” he says. The 38-year-old is a beloved officer, testifies K S Sajayan, a journalist based in Mananthavady. “In a short time, he earned the trust of people. Regardless of the magnitude of the crime, he would visit the spot immediately,” Sajayan says.
Sajayan says local CPM workers had a misunderstanding the officer had a leaning towards the BJP. Manoj Pattett, CPM local secretary and an accused in the case for attacking police, says the attack was not pre-planned. “It is true we had some differences of opinion with the officer. But there was no question of planning and executing an attack against him,” he says.
Vinod is now posted in the district cyber cell. Mattam, which is currently published on opennewser.com, a Mananthavady-based website, will find place in his collection of works to be published soon.