Puthenveetil Sreejith wants action against police for his brother’s custodial death. (Express Photo)
Sreejith, a Kerala youth who has been on an indefinite agitation seeking a CBI probe into the alleged custodial death of his younger brother, on Monday met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan but vowed to continue his protest until he receives a formal order regarding CBI probe.
The 29-year-old, who has been waging a lonely battle outside the state secretariat, propelled into the limelight on Sunday as his sit-in protest turned 765 days. Powered by social media, his cause turned from Puthenveetil Sreejith’s individual struggle to a people’s struggle, with a campaign beginning a few days ago under the hashtag #justiceforsreejith.
Sreejith and his mother Ramani Prameela met CM Vijayan a day after the LDF government wrote to the CBI requesting the agency, a second time in about six months, to probe the alleged custodial death of Sreejeev, Sreejith’s younger brother.
Upon meeting Sreejith, CM Vijayan extended all help to the protesting youth, promising to do everything possible to bring justice to the bereaved family. “The Chief Minister extended all support to our cause,” he said, adding, “the protest will continue till an order on CBI probe is received.” He, however, pointed out that the plea to suspend the police officers accused in the case has not been accepted.
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Lending more support to the protesting youth, Congress MPs from Kerala– Shashi Tharoor and KC Venugopal met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister for Personnel and Public Grievances Jitendra Singh in Delhi. In a tweet, Tharoor said the Home Minister had agreed that custodial deaths should always be inquired into.
“Had a very constructive meeting w/ @drjitendrasingh on the imperative need for a CBI inquiry into the custodial death of Sreejith’s brother. We then met together with @rajnathsingh ji who agreed that custodial deaths should always be inquired into. Expecting official OK today.”
In another tweet, he said: “Spoke to #Sreejith by phone to convey the Govt’s assurance of a CBI inquiry into the custodial death of his brother #Sreejeev. Admired his courage &persistence but urged him to call off his protest now. May truth & justice prevail.”
There has been an outpouring of support for Sreejith, with Malayalam actors Prithviraj and Parvathy throwing weight behind the cause of the protesting youth. Politicians from the Congress and BJP camps have also lent their support for the protest.
Sreejev, 27, died at a Thiruvananthapuram hospital on March 21, 2014 allegedly due to police torture. The Congress-led UDF was in power at the time. The youth had been taken into custody in case of an alleged theft. While the police claimed that Sreejeev had committed suicide by consuming poison, which he had apparently concealed in his inner wear while being taken into custody, the police complaints authority, which probed into the incident, called it a custodial death.
With PTI inputs