Governor Arif Mohammad Khan accuses CPM of promoting cult of violence in Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Friday expressed deep concern over the cult of violence being promoted by a section in the state.
Khan was talking to reporters after meeting the parents of veterinary college student Sidharthan who was found hanging in the washroom of the men’s hostel, on February 18. The student was brutally tortured for three days by a section of students.
“I came to share the grief with the parents of Sidharthan. The condition of the mother is very bad,” the governor said after meeting the parents.
"Kerala is a state with a hundred percent literacy. It has a great literary and cultural heritage. However certain forces are promoting the cult of violence in the state. Where do we want to take our society,” he asked.
Referring to the HC verdict on the TP Chandrashekharan murder case, he said members of a political party had brutally murdered their former colleague just because he dissented. “You are talking about the involvement of SFI activists in the torture of the vet college student. Even the police is admitting, the university is admitting. Everybody knows about it, ” he said and added that the real problem is that “we have lost a young bright student who was meritorious.
Khan said it is unfortunate that young people are being trained in violent methods, high-handedness and bullying others. “We all will have to rethink this situation, the society at large will have to rethink,” he said.
The governor said the father of Sidharthan had given a petition to him. “I had immediately asked my office to refer the petition to the DGP. We got a reply yesterday that seven people have been arrested in connection with the incident,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed the DGP to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe Sidharth's death.
A delegation of SFI led by its state president Anusree visited Sidharthan’s house and demanded strong action against the culprits.
AICC general secretary K C Venugopal met the victim’s family on Thursday. "It is a clear-cut case of murder. Pinaryi Vijayan is turning SFI into a criminal organisation," he alleged and sought to know what the college authorities were doing to check such incidents.
