Two arrested after tribal youth stripped, tied to an electric pole and assaulted in Kerala’s Attappadi

“I accidentally slipped on the road when a mini-truck approached. Two persons emerged from the vehicle showered abusive words and manhandled me without any provocation. They said I had deliberately fallen in front of their vehicle. There was enough space for their mini truck to move ahead. One of them tied me to an electric post while the other person recorded it in mobile phone,’’ said Siju, who is admitted to the government tribal speciality hospital at Attappadi, said in his police complaint.

Siju said he was left tied in the heavy rain for more than an hour. “Later in the night, some friends from my settlement took me to hospital,” he further went on to say.

Doctors at the hospital alerted the local police about the assault but no action was allegedly taken. On Tuesday, after the video was circulated in social media, police registered the First Information Report under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prevention of Atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act.

Meanwhile, Agali police said the occupants of the mini-truck had also registered a police complaint accusing Siju of damaging their vehicle. When he was manhandled, Siju allegedly threw a stone at the mini truck.

Provoked over the vehicle getting damaged, the duo tied the youth to the post. A case was also registered against Saju based on the complaint from the turck owner, said police.

Attappadi is a tribal taluka in Palakkad. In 2018, a tribal youth named Madhu was lynched here on the suspicion of pilfering food from the local stores. A gang had then caught the youth, tied him to a wayside post and brutally assaulted. A video of the incident purportedly showed some of the assailants taking selfies with the victim.