They urged every person in the society to nip in the bud any attempts to spread speculations, myths and rumours to create divisions.
Published Oct 30, 2023 | 2:33 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 30, 2023 | 2:33 PM
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. (Creative Commons)
An all-party meeting convened by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday, 31 October, unanimously resolved to urge people not to indulge in baseless accusations, speculative campaigns and rumour-mongering in the wake of the blasts at Kalamassery, which killed three people and injured 56 others.
The blasts occurred at a convention centre in Kalamassery near Kochi that was hosting a prayer meeting of the Jehovah’s Witnesses— a Christian group that originated in the US in the 19th century— on Sunday, 29 October.
The all-party meeting was attended by all major political parties in the state, and they also resolved that Kerala will, at any cost, overcome the isolated attempts to fragment it by those who cannot tolerate the special social situation of peace, brotherhood and equality in the southern state, the statement said.
They urged every person in the society to nip in the bud any attempts to spread speculations, myths and rumours to create social divisions and thereby alienate the people from each other.
Post the blasts, hatemongers claimed the explosion was a premeditated experiment against the backdrop of Israel’s conflict with Hamas.
The campaigners also mentioned former Hamas leader Khaled Mashal’s attendance via video conferencing at a Palestine solidarity gathering held in Kerala’s Muslim-dominant Malappuram district the other day.
The attempt is to project the explosion as part of jihad.
Meanwhile, Kerala DGP Sheikh Dervesh Sahib issued a warning against hatemongering in the aftermath of the Kalamassery incident.
He stated that authorities are actively monitoring rumour-mongering on social media and that harsh action would be taken against anyone who attempts to divide communities by spreading false information.
The police have so far registered 10 cases across the state in this connection.
Initially, one woman had died, and 52 were injured, six of them critically, in the blasts.
Subsequently, one of the six critically injured— a 53-year-old woman—succumbed to her injuries.
By Monday morning, the death toll rose to three with the death of a 12-year-old girl who had suffered 95 percent burns in the incident.
DGP Darvesh Saheb had on Sunday confirmed that the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device.
A few hours after the blasts, an estranged member of the cult surrendered before the Kodakara police in the Thrissur district, claiming responsibility for the explosions. In a video posted on Facebook, the man said he took the decision to attack the sect since its teaching were seditious.
The police, after questioning him, arrested him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Relevant sections of the IPC and Explosives Act, too, have been invoked.
The accused, Dominic Martin, told the police that he had learnt to make explosives with the help of YouTube tutorials, and he conducted trails on the terrace of his rented house at Thammanam in Kochi and his ancestral home near Aluva.
He said he planted the explosives around 7 am on Sunday after making them at his ancestral house in Aluva. There were only three persons when he planted the explosives in the hall, he said.
(With PTI inputs)
