THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid reluctance of the police to act on the complaint against Mayor Arya Rajendran and her husband K M Sachin Dev, MLA, for blocking the road, KSRTC driver L H Yedu said he would take legal route against the police lethargy.
The driver had alleged that the mayor and her husband blocked the bus, which resulted in truncation of the bus service and caused hardship to the passengers.
Yedu said the police have been indifferent to his complaint against the mayor and her husband from the beginning. He accused the cops of leaking his complaint to someone else via phone and said they wanted to project his complaint as a counter to the one filed by the mayor.
He also alleged that the police turned a blind eye towards two complaints he had filed and when the matter snowballed into a controversy, the cops registered a case against two unknown people, in order to protect the mayor and her husband.
The KSRTC bus was blocked by the mayor and her husband on Saturday night alleging that the driver did not let them overtake and used sexually loaded gestures at the women passengers, including Arya. Arya had maintained they did not stop the bus and it was when the bus stopped at a signal that they approached the driver.
However, the CCTV camera visuals revealed that the car in which the mayor and her family travelled was parked across the road on the zebra crossing, blocking the KSRTC bus. Following this Yedu demanded that a case be registered against the mayor and the MLA.
However, the police refused to act saying the bus service was cancelled after Yedu committed an offence against the woman. The cops maintained that the driver was taken into custody after a complaint was received against him and because of that the remaining trip had to be cancelled.
Meanwhile, the opposition service unions in the KSRTC protested against the management’s decision to keep Yedu out of duty. They took out protest marches to the KSRTC Chief Office decrying that the MLA and the mayor had different sets of rules.
Cong moves SHRC
In what could escalate the row involving the mayor and KSRTC driver, Congress has approached the State Human Rights Commission seeking to register a case against Mayor Arya Rajendran and MLA Sachin Dev, her husband. In the complaint, KPCC secretary C R Pranakumar said Arya and Sachin obstructed the journey of the bus passengers. He said the Constitution guarantees the right to travel. “The mayor and the MLA stopped their car in front of the KSRTC bus carrying many passengers at Palayam and obstructed their journey,” the complaint said adding that this will send a wrong message to society.