Opposition demands action against police officer

Thiruvananthapuram, Deputy leader of Opposition Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on Tuesday demanded that the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Radhakrishna Pillai who opened fire on protesting Students Federation of India (SFI) activists in Kozhikode be not allowed to continue in service.

Demanding strong action against ACP, Kodiyeri told reporters here on Tuesday that the incident showed that the government had given its consent to the police to use any means to suppress the students protesting against the admission of Nirmal Madhav to the Government Engineering College, Kozhikode, in alleged violation of all norms.

The protest in Kozhikode had not created a situation that warranted police firing. The government owed an explanation as to who authorised the officer to open fire, he asked.

Nirmal Madhav, who had obtained 22,787 rank in entrance examination, got admission to the mechanical engineering branch in the management quota at the Calicut University Institute of Engineering and Technology in 2009, Kodiyeri added.

He discarded studies in the third semester. He then got admission in the civil engineering branch at the Punnapara College of Engineering and Management in the Non-Resident Indian quota. After two semesters, he left the college and was given admission in the fifth semester in the mechanical branch at the Government Engineering College.