ALUVA: It seems that the State Police are dillydallying on the case against SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan, related to his allegedly inflammatory speech at a public meeting in Aluva the other day.
So far, the police have not made any attempt to issue arrest warrant against Vellappally or to detain/quiz him. It is alleged that the police have been deliberately dragging their feet after registering case against Vellappally and filing FIR in a local court.
When contacted, Aluva DySP P P Shams said the case was under investigation, and that the police were yet to decide on recording arrest. The police have not questioned anyone in connection with the case, and not inspected any document/video-footage.
Since the case against Vellappally has been charged under Section-153 (A) of the IPC (non-bailable) - promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence and language, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony - there is no legal hurdles for the police to take him into custody. Statistics available with the National Crime Records Bureau show that in 2014, 65 cases were registered in the State for ‘promoting enmity between different groups (Section-153 (A) and 153 (B) of the IPC)’. Out of that, 59 cases were in the category of ‘offences promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth etc.’ The police arrested 90 persons in connection with the cases during the year.
Data indicate that in the past, the police were diligent in arresting the accused in such cases. The slow progress of the investigation also justifies to some extend the allegation of political influence in the case under reference.
The Aluva Police on Monday registered a case against Vellappally, based on a complaint filed by KPCC president V M Sudheeran, over the former’s comments on Naushad, who died last week while trying to save two labourers trapped in the manhole in Kozhikode.
Vellappally stirred up a controversy by stating that the UDF Government had sanctioned compensation for Naushad’s relatives just to ‘please’ one particular community.