CPM leaders in Edavanna are facing accusations as an undergraduate student and her younger brother have approached the police, claiming that they were assaulted by members of the organization in what they describe as an incident of ‘moral policing’. This incident, which involved the placement of a notice board questioning the morality of students in Edavanna, has now escalated into a political conflict between the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the ruling party of the panchayat, the CPM.
According to one of the siblings, the panchayat president and local CPM leaders attacked them on Thursday. Shimla, an undergraduate student at a college in Wandoor, and her brother Shinshad, a plus two student at a school in Edavanna, along with their friends, were allegedly manhandled by a group of individuals, including CPM leaders from the area. Shimla claimed that the mob attacked them after she questioned a person who had taken their photos with his mobile phone.
In her account of the incident, Shimla stated, “My younger brother and I were waiting at the bus stand with some friends. While we were talking, a man who was nearby took our photographs and recorded a video. We asked him to delete the footage and explained that we were siblings. However, he threatened to circulate the photos and video in various WhatsApp groups. So, we decided to go to the police station and file a complaint. But before we could leave the bus stand, a group of people, including the CPM leaders, assaulted my brother and his friends. They also insulted me based on moral grounds.”
The siblings claimed that the police initially showed reluctance to take immediate action on their complaint. It was only after Shimla shared their ordeal on Instagram that the police recorded their testimony.
Following the incident, a flex board was erected, warning students not to gather near the bus stand after 5 pm. The board, attributed to ‘Edavanna Janakeeya Koottayma,’ threatened that anyone gathering on the bus stand premises after 5 pm would be assaulted by the public. Subsequently, another board was put up by ‘Vidyarthi Paksham Edavanna,’ questioning the legality of the earlier board.
V.P. Lukhman, an IUML leader from the area, expressed his concerns about the incident, stating, “What happened in Edavanna has brought disrepute to the entire people of Edavanna. We can see the CPM local secretary and other leaders in the visuals manhandling the students. If they have any complaints about the behavior of students, they have to approach the police instead of beating them. IUML would take up the issue; we would question the integrity of the police in this case.”
On Sunday morning, the police removed both notice boards and registered an FIR based on Shimla’s complaint. The FIR included charges under the Indian Penal Code related to insulting the modesty of women, voluntarily causing hurt, and the Kerala Police Act section pertaining to taking photographs or recording videos that infringe upon the reasonable privacy of women.
However, the CPM has denied the allegations made against its leaders. Panchayat president and CPM leader T. Abhilash stated that he had not assaulted anyone. He asserted that the CPM opposes moral policing and claimed that his role was to resolve the issue, denying any involvement in the placement of the board promoting moral policing in Edavanna.
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