Muralidharan Kannampilly's arrest condemned by Kerala Human Rights Commission chief

KOCHI: Intelligentsia, human rights organisations, political parties and the public have voiced their concern on human rights violations being committed with regard to the people linked to banned political outfits after the police arrested several people with Maoist links. A group of intellectuals have, in a signed statement, expressed their reservation against the way in which Muralidharan Kannampilly, a political activist and scholar from Kerala, was arrested by the Maharashtra police from a hospital near Pune. He was arrested along with a friend, CP Ismail, who was helping him as a bystander, on charges that they were members of the Communist Party of India (Maoists).

The two arrested persons were produced before an additional session's court and the judge sent them in the custody of the AntiTerrorist Squad for seven days.

“We feel that the action of the ATS is totally unjustified as denying medical assistance to a sick person is totally inhuman and against the very principle of natural justice and violation of the right of life guaranteed under the constitution,“ the statement issued by a group of intellectuals said.

Kerala Human Rights Commission chief Justice JB Koshy has condemned the arrest of K Muralidharan. He said as Muralidharan has no criminal cases against him, the arrest is against the Supreme Court directive.

Ever since the police arrested the top Maoist leader Roopesh and his wife Shaina along with three others from Coimbatore early this month, social networking sites have witnessed a wave of public support for those arrested.