Kottayam/Pathanamthitta | Keralam Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Monday strongly defended the police over allegations of lapses in handling the assault on a YouTuber inside Adoor police station in July, after CCTV footage purportedly showing a woman Congress leader entering the station and confronting him surfaced.
Chennithala said there had been no lapse on the part of the police and that a case had been registered on the day of the incident itself.
He said the Director General of Police (DGP) had been asked to obtain a report from the Superintendent of Police (SP), Pathanamthitta, and further action would be considered after it was received.
"There has been no lapse. A case was registered on the same day. One or two people were also arrested, and cases have been registered against several others. The law will take its own course," Chennithala told reporters.
Asked about the incident, the minister also questioned how the police could identify everyone involved when a commotion was taking place outside the station.
His remarks came amid demands for action against those allegedly involved in the incident, after television channels aired CCTV footage on Saturday purportedly showing a group of Youth Congress workers, led by Sreena Devi Kunjamma, entering Adoor police station, where YouTuber Rajan Joseph was lodged in a cell.
The footage also appeared to show Kunjamma, a Congress district panchayat member who had lodged a complaint against Joseph, entering the station and confronting him.
Joseph was arrested by the Adoor police in July following a complaint by Kunjamma alleging that he had posted defamatory content about her on social media.
The incident took place on July 11, when Joseph was brought to the police station after being arrested in Kochi.
The police later registered a case against around 20 people, including Youth Congress workers, over an alleged attempt to assault him while he was being brought to the station.
The emergence of the CCTV footage has triggered a political controversy, with CPI(M) leaders demanding stringent action against Kunjamma and Youth Congress leaders, including Fenny Nainan, a Congress worker closely associated with ex MLA Rahul Mamkoottathil.
They alleged that the visuals showed Joseph being assaulted and intimidated inside the police station.
The footage was reportedly obtained by CPI(M) leaders from the police station under the Right to Information Act.
Kunjamma admitted that she entered Adoor police station at around 10.30 pm and saw the YouTuber sitting on the floor of a lock-up cell.
"I spoke to him briefly, introduced myself and asked, 'Are you doing well, brother," she said.
Youth Congress leaders, including Nainan, have denied that any assault took place.
Nainan told a television channel that they had gone to the police station only to protest after learning about Joseph's arrest and had not manhandled him.