A woman has moved the Kerala high court against the state government after she was allegedly detained by the police “for wearing black clothes while attending the ‘Nava Kerala Sadas”, an outreach campaign of the LDF government which ended earlier this week.
Kollam resident L Archana moved the HC on Wednesday claiming that she “experienced mental duress” during her detention at the police station “for almost seven hours” and that it was a “violation of her fundamental rights to wear any clothes of her choice”. She also alleged that the police whisked her away as her husband is a BJP worker.
“The incident took place on December 18. That morning, my husband had kept our two-wheeler at the Randalamoodu junction... So I went to pick up the two-wheeler when my mother-in-law said that she wanted to come along to see the chief minister and the cabinet ministers travelling in a bus as part of the Nava Kerala Sadas,” Archana told local media.
“When I was at the junction, a police officer came to me and asked if I was the wife of BJP leader Bahuleyan. I said yes. Immediately, he accused me of protesting against the chief minister by wearing black salwar-kameez. I told him that I was simply standing and not protesting. He didn’t listen to me and forcefully took me to the police station,” she added.
{{/usCountry}}“When I was at the junction, a police officer came to me and asked if I was the wife of BJP leader Bahuleyan. I said yes. Immediately, he accused me of protesting against the chief minister by wearing black salwar-kameez. I told him that I was simply standing and not protesting. He didn’t listen to me and forcefully took me to the police station,” she added.
{{/usCountry}}The woman said that she was detained for nearly seven hours at the police station even though she had not created any provocation against the state government or the chief minister.
“I really felt insulted that the police detained me when I had done nothing. Just because I was wearing black clothes, how can they say that I was there to protest? It’s a violation of my fundamental rights and that’s why I have moved the high court,” she said. Her plea is likely to be heard by the HC next week.
The Nava Kerala Sadas, which began from Kasaragod on Nov 18 and ended in Ernakulam district this week, had attracted censure for the police handling of protesters against the convoy of the chief minister. Allegations had risen against the police ‘high-handedness’ against activists of the Congress and the BJP who opposed the yatra.