Human rights activists have accused the authorities of denying natural justice to Rajan Chittilappilly, a suspected Maoist activist, who was arrested by the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Kerala Police from a Thrissur hospital last week.
Janakeeya Manushyavakasa Prasthanam secretary C.P. Rasheed claimed on Tuesday that Mr. Rajan had been denied the services of a lawyer and the permission to meet his relatives. Mr. Rajan was arrested when he was undergoing treatment for the severe injuries he suffered in a road accident. He was presented in the District and Sessions Court, Manjeri, Malappuram, through video conference, which remanded him in judicial custody till January 8. The police questioned him for five days.
Shifted to prison
Though Mr. Rajan was shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, for treatment, he was taken to the high security prison at Viyyur in Thrissur after five days, Mr. Rasheed said.
“Is it appropriate to allow the police to question someone whose health condition is bad?” he asked.
Mr. Rasheed said that Mr. Rajan had been denied medical care despite his inability to perform personal chores on his own. He had been reportedly lodged in a cell on the top floor of the jail building though people with health issues are generally permitted to occupy rooms on the ground floor, Mr. Rasheed said.
Mr. Rajan is reported to be a member of the Western Ghats Special Zonal Committee of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). He had been booked by the Edakkara police in Malappuram in 2016 on the charge of participating in a meeting of the CPI (Maoist) in the Nilambur jungles, raising a red flag, and receiving salutes from the party cadre. The meeting was believed to have been held in 2015.
This was revealed after video recordings were recovered from the site where Maoist leaders Kuppu Devaraj and Ajitha were gunned down in an alleged encounter in 2016. Mr. Rajan had been in hiding for over one-and-a-half-decades.
