The father of an 18-year-old Dalit boy, who committed suicide on July 17 following alleged police torture, has asked if it was a crime that his son had an unusual hairstyle. (Representational Image)
The father of an 18-year-old Dalit boy, who committed suicide on July 17 following alleged police torture, has asked if it was a crime that his son had an unusual hairstyle. The grieving father, C Krishnankutty, raised the question as the police had reprimanded his son K Vinayak about his hair and told him to trim it and show it to them later. “Is having long hair a crime?” Krishnankutty asked a day after his son’s post-mortem report suggested the boy had been tortured.
On July 17, Vinayak, who worked as a beautician, was caught by police from Pavaratti in Thrissur district, along with his friend Sarath and a girl, who was Vinayak’s friend. Vinayak, a native of Engandiyur, had gone to Pavaratti with Sarath to meet the girl. Vinayak did not have the documents for his bike when two constables confronted him and Sarath and so he was taken to the police station. Hours later, the police called Vinayak’s father to the police station.
Krishnankutty said: “I was told by the police that my son was found wandering on a two-wheeler and he could not immediately produce any documents.” He said the policemen seemed to have found fault with his son’s hairstyle and asked Vinayak to trim it. One of the constables asked him to turn up at the police station after trimming his hair.
“My son was a beautician. He had chosen a hairstyle. I never questioned his hairstyle. Is it a crime that an 18-year-old youth has a hairstyle according to his fashion?” he asked.
Krishnankutty, who is a labourer, said the policemen told him to slap his son on the face. “When I refused to, they said I should have raised him by making him face corporal punishment.’’
On July 17 evening, Vinayak was allowed to go home with his father. Krishnankutty sent his son to the salon that day to get a haircut. The next day, Krishnankutty and his wife, Oman, went out for work. In the afternoon, when Krishnankutty returned home, he found his son hanging. “It was only later that I came to know from his friend Sarath that Vinayak was tortured in police custody,” Krishnankutty said.
