THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall, Shahida is seen taking blows from son on her face in a video. The 49-year-old shrieks in pain and invokes God, but the attacker hurls abuses at her and continues to slap her and kick on her ribs. A feeble female voice “I’m not going to interfere” is heard, apparently of the person who had shot it. The video has gone viral, but immediately after the incident --- which happened at Edava near here on December 10 --- the police reached the house to probe, but the mother refused to cooperate.
After the son was apprehended on Wednesday, the officers sought her statement but she tried to play down the brutality by dismissing it as a “one-off incident” and saying “after all, he is my son.” The Ayiroor police arrested Razaq, 28, under non-bailable sections after registering a suo motu case for battering his mother Shahida, which was recorded by his sister Raheema.
“We had visited the house soon after the incident and asked the woman to lodge a complaint. However, she did not agree and refused to cooperate,” said a police officer attached with Ayiroor station. Sources said Raheema had sent the video to her father Raheem, who was working at a vegetable shop in Oachira. Raheem later forwarded it to Shahida’s brother.
“The video got leaked from abroad,” said a police officer. Even when senior officers pressed Shahida to give statements after arresting Razaq, who was working with a private transporting company, she stood her ground saying being a mother, she cannot do that.
“He is a poor chap and that was a one-off incident. He came drunk and the attack happened. I don’t want to give a statement against him. After all, he is my son,” she said. However, the local youths were not so kind as they roughed up Razaq a few days ago after the video came to their notice, sources said. Then too, the mother’s concern for her son came to Razaq’s aid as Shahida intervened and asked the irate mob to leave her son. MLA V Joy, who represents Varkala constituency, said the youth is a substance abuser who visits his mother rarely.