Leaders of various socio, cultural and religious organisations have sought a department-level inquiry into the incident in which a police officer from the Kuttiyadi station was accused of beating up a muthawalli (custodian of wakf) and a Muslim cleric of Maruthongara Juma Masjid on the charge of violating the COVID-19 protocol.

The complainants, N. Shereef and Sulaiman Musliar, who reportedly sustained injuries in the attack on Friday, also submitted a complaint to the District Police Chief (Kozhikode Rural), seeking action against the police official.

Mr. Shareef, who was also admitted to the Kuttiyadi Government Hospital following the incident, said the police officer behaved “cruelly” when the two of them were pasting some public notices near the masjid for restricting the entry of the faithful to the spot in view of the COVID-19 protocol on Friday. He alleged that the officer showered them with abuse and caned them recklessly.

In his complaint to the District Police Chief, Mr. Shareef said the police officer caned even the 65-year old cleric. “We have been in support of all the preventive measures announced by the government in its fight against the pandemic. The police action was quite unexpected,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Kuttiyadi police denied the involvement of any police officer in the incident. They claimed that the two complainants were only asked to comply with the social distancing protocol.