In the letter to Lok Sabha Speaker, he alleged breach of privilege and targeted assault on his life and his fellow MPs during the march organised by Congress.
File photo of KPCC chief K Sudhakaran. (ksudhakaraninc/Facebook)
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee chief and Parliamentarian K Sudhakaran, on Saturday, 23 December, gave a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking permission to move a breach of privilege against the Kerala Police in connection with the DGP office march violence incident.
In the letter, the Kannur MP alleged breach of privilege and targeted assault on his life and his fellow Members of Parliament during the march organised by the Congress that morning.
The senior leader charged in the letter that the “heinous breach of privilege” was orchestrated by the Kerala Police under the “explicit directives” of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Sudhakaran sent the letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker hours after he and many other leaders suffered uneasiness following the use of teargas shells at the protesters by police personnel.
In the letter, he said that the police “callously unleashed a potent barrage of teargas directly at the stage”, endangering the lives of all present there.
He further alleged that the intensity of the attack left him grappling with severe breathing difficulties, rendering him unconscious and necessitating immediate hospitalisation.
The MP pointed out that this brutal act was a blatant violation of his Parliamentary privilege.
“Pinarayi Vijayan’s audacious intent to employ police force to physically target me not only infringes upon my human rights but also undermines our sacrosanct democratic right to engage in peaceful protest, a right I hold as a solemn duty to represent the voice of my people,” Sudhakaran said in the letter.
The deployed teargas, egregiously surpassing standard police-issued measures, serves as a stark testament to the severity of this breach, he said.
“In light of these alarming events, I implore your immediate intervention to conduct a thorough investigation, with a specific focus on the targeted attack on my life,” the leader added.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor said he would also soon write to the Lok Sabha Speaker about the breach of privilege of MPs during the protest.
Soon after the blasting of teargas shells near the Opposition protest venue, Tharoor told reporters that the incident happened when senior MLAs and MPs of the party were present and it was suspected of a deliberate attack.
In a post, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said that he was one of the hundreds of victims of a completely “unjustified and wanton attack” by the Kerala Police using the highest-grade teargas and water cannons against a peaceful protest rally.
Today I was able to add, albeit unwillingly, another new political experience of the first-of-my-lifetime kind: being one of the hundreds of victims of a completely unjustified and wanton attack by Kerala Police using the highest-grade tear-gas and water cannons against a…
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 23, 2023
He said that the rally was organised after obtaining all permissions and the teargas shells were fired without provocation or warning.
Tharoor said that he spoke to the DGP in the “strongest possible terms”, protesting the behaviour of his subordinates and the police chief promised a full inquiry.
“But the firing of tear-gas shells against the stage, which was being occupied by a number of senior people’s representatives, MPs and MLAs, will also attract a severe case of violation of Parliamentary privileges and immunities,” he further said.
Alleging that Kerala has descended into the rule of the lawless, who have been given full freedom to assault the law-abiding, he said that the Chief Minister has to be accountable for this assault.
A protest march by the Opposition Congress towards the Kerala DGP office in Thiruvananthapuram on 23 December turned violent, with agitators hurling stones and sticks at the police, following which water cannons were used to disperse the crowd.
Eyewitnesses confirmed that the police targeted the front row of protesters while Opposition Leader VD Satheesan was addressing the rally taken out to the state police headquarters near Vazhuthacaud. They said the police acted unprovoked.
Senior leaders, including Sudhakaran, Ramesh Chennithala, Tharoor, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly VD Satheesan, and others were present on the makeshift stage near the DGP office when the police used teargas and water cannons.
Sudhakaran and Chennithala were visibly affected by the tear gas used by the police and were escorted by the Congress workers to an available car nearby.
Both the leaders were taken to a nearby hospital for necessary treatment.
Earlier, on 21 December, a march organised by the Kerala Students’ Union (KSU) to the office of the Director General of Police (DGP) to condemn the alleged attacks on KSU and Youth Congress activists by members of the ruling CPI(M), its youth outfit Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s gunman.
Trouble erupted when a protesting KSU worker allegedly hurled chilli powder at the police, prompting the police to respond with a lathi charge.
KPCC general secretary Kuzhalnadan, who had been present since the beginning of the march, attempted to intervene and was allegedly beaten up by the police.
According to police sources, 15 student activists, including three with injuries requiring hospitalisation, were arrested in connection with the incident.
(With PTI inputs)
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