Police crackdown on students’ anti-drug meet sparks outrage

Police disrupt student anti-drug conference sparking outrage; police intervention questioned by organisers and politicians.

Police disruption of a massive student anti-drug conference organised by the Wisdom Islamic Students Organisation at Perinthalmanna on Sunday (May 11) has sparked widespread outrage.

A team of police officers led by Inspector Sumesh Sudhakaran allegedly forcibly stopped the conference as it was about to conclude at 10.06 p.m. The organisers had been given permission until 10 p.m.

Thousands of students, most of them professional, watched the police action in dismay as Mr. Sudhakaran and his team reportedly shouted at the organisers. A video of Mr. Sudhakaran sneering at the students after halting their conference has gone viral on social media, sparking further outrage.

“It was a meeting against drugs held with a blessing message from our Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan,” said T.K. Ashraf, general secretary of the Wisdom Islamic Students Organisation.

He said the meet was organised in such a way as to finish well before 10 p.m. “We planned the meet for 20,000 students. But it took some extra time for us to make arrangements for the 25,000 students who turned up for the meet from different parts of the State. Still, we were about to conclude by 10.10 p.m. But it was unfortunate that the police made a bad show by disrupting a well-organised programme just two or three minutes before its natural end,” said Mr. Ashraf.

The police said they did their duty, and that the organisers had been previously warned not to exceed the 10-p.m. deadline.

District Police Chief R. Viswanath ordered an investigation into the incident on the basis of complaints from various persons. The Perinthalmanna DySP has begun an inquiry.