THRISSUR:The family members of the Maoist couple, Thekkiniyedathu Roopesh and Puthuveetil Shyna, who were picked up by security agencies from Karumathampatti in Coimbatore on Monday night, have said they would take up the matter legally.
Ami T R, the eldest daughter of the couple, told Express that her parents had been following an ideology and they had not looted or assaulted anyone.
“They have been trying to fix the system which is in a shambles and we take pride in being their daughters,” said Ami, who is preparing for her LLB entrance examination.
Ami also said she had not seen her father since 2006 and her mother was also absconding from 2008.
Shyna, who was a firebrand leader of the CPM (Marxist-Leninist) from her student days, reportedly went underground after the arrest of national-level Maoist leader Malla Raja Reddy from the couple’s house at Angamaly in April 2008.
The younger daughter of the couple, a Class VIII student, Savera, lives at Shyna’s house at Chanthapadi in Valappad, Kerala with Nafeesa, mother of Shyna, a retired supervisor with the Health Department.
Roopesh hails from Peringottukara near the coastal region of Valappad.
Ami also said that People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) general secretary P A Pauran, a lawyer based in Manjeri, was informed about the couple’s arrest by a higher police official in Coimbatore and the family has requested him to provide legal support to the couple.
Pauran told Express that PUCL’s Tamil Nadu general secretary Bal Murugan would appear on behalf of the couple in court.
“Though the couple and the other three Maoists are most likely to be remanded by the court, we would pull out all stops within the framework of law to release them in bail,” Pauran said.
“To my knowledge, no cases have been registered against them for committing any serious crime so far,” Pauran claimed.
He also said he would visit the couple along with some relatives of Roopesh on Wednesday.
The elder brother of Roopesh, T R Rajesh said that though he did not personally subscribe to Maoist ideology, he would take up the matter legally.