KOZHIKODE: Human right activists have alleged that the police denied them permission to offer a red salute and wrap the body of slain Maoist Velmurugan with a red flag on Tuesday. They said the cops prevented them from paying the last respect which was usually allowed in the case of slain Maoists.
“The police had permitted us to give the red salute and wrap the red flag on the bodies of Maoists Kuppu Devaraj and Ajitha alias Kaveri who were killed in Nilambur forest and the bodies of Manivasagam, Ajitha and Karthi who were killed in Manjakandi. But in case of Velmurugan, the police were hellbent,” said rights activist and former Naxalite Grow Vasu.
Janakeeya Manushyavakasha Prasthanam secretary C P Rasheed alleged that the state is going from bad to worse in the denial of democratic rights. “Offering the final salute to a martyr is an honour which nobody will deny.
Giving the red salute, raising slogans, wrapping the red flag and a short speech by veteran leaders are the final respect paid to martyrs and all these take only 10-15 minutes, but the police did not allow that too,” said Rasheed.
Vasu said it was not the first time the right activists and Maoist sympathisers received the body of a Maoist. “Normally, we are allowed to see the body in front of the mortuary before taking it to the ambulance. Paying the final respect should be done there,” he said.