T’puram: Leader of opposition Pinarayi Vijayan has urged home minister Ramesh Chennithala to take stringent action against Youth Congress workers and police officers allegedly involved in violence at University Hostel in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.In a letter to the minister, Vijayan alleged that the violence was a ‘planned’ attack involving Youth Congress workers and police and demanded action against those responsible for the alleged assault and misuse of police powers.He alleged that the decision by Youth Congress workers to begin their march from the hostel premises, instead of the usual protest venue, was intended to provoke a confrontation. He claimed that around 200 Youth Congress workers surrounded the hostel on Wednesday night carrying weapons, including machetes, stones and beer bottles, and hurled fireballs at the premises.He alleged that despite visuals showing Youth Congress functionaries, including the district president, pelting stones, neither the organisation’s brass nor police intervened to stop the violence. He further claimed that police later provided protection to Youth Congress workers who returned to the hostel after the march and continued the alleged attack.He also alleged that police entered the hostel by breaking open the gate without the warden’s permission and assaulted SFI activists. He claimed that even the SFI state secretary, who had reached the spot to pacify students at the instance of senior police officers, was assaulted.Vijayan alleged that police had failed to invoke stringent, non-bailable provisions under Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act against Youth Congress leaders accused of damaging public property, while registering cases against CPM functionaries Kadakampally Surendran and V Joy under non-bailable provisions for protesting against alleged police excesses.
