The Beemapally Muslim Jama-Ath Action Council has rejected the report of the Inquiry Commission, headed by District Judge K Ramakrishnan, on the police firing in Cheriyathura and demanded a re-investigation into the incident. Six persons, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed in the police firing on May 17, 2009, in Cheriyathura area. Addressing a news conference here on Tuesday, the Action Council, launched by various ‘mahal’ committees in the district, urged the government to take stern action against the policemen involved in the firing. It also demanded that the government immediately compensate the next of kin of those killed and injured in the incident. ‘’The Ramakrishnan Commission report has not offered any justice to the victims. In fact, it has portrayed people from the Muslim community in bad light,’’ Kadakkal Abdul Aziz Moulavi, chairman of the Action Council, said. While carrying out the inquiry, the Commission conducted a whirlwind tour of the area but did not hear the version of those injured in the incident, Abdul Aziz Moulavi alleged. ‘’But what is more painful is the way the Muslim community has been portrayed as mischief-makers in the inquiry report,’’ he said. The Moulavi claimed that even after the firing, people of the area maintained calm and did not fall prey to communal passions. Asked whether the Council will approach the High Court against the report, Moulavi said, ‘’all options will be considered.’’
‘’We are open to a re-investigation by any agency but the truth should come out,’’ said Beemapally Rasheed, general convenor of the Action Council adding that the role of the policemen behind the incident should be brought under the ambit of the re-investigation.
‘’A 15-year-old child who was playing cricket almost a kilometre away was also injured in the firing and he later succumbed to his injuries.
The investigation should find out why innocents fell prey to police bullets,’’ Rasheed said adding that the Action Council would think about launching agitations if justice was not provided to the victims.