Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 21 (IANS): After the Kerala high court last week came down heavily on the police for failing to tackle the protests near the state Secretariat despite Covid directives, the police registered cases against 3,000 people, which is said to be a record of sorts.
The Cantonment Police station, housed at a stone's throw from the office of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in the state capital has entered into the state record books with this.
It is this police station that looks after the security of the State Secretariat -- the seat of power -- which for the past eight days has been taken over by the protesters. The protesters include people from all the opposition parties, who are demanding the resignation of State Higher Education Minister K. T.Jaleel.
Jaleel has also entered into the state record books, as he became the first Kerala Minister to be questioned by the NIA and the Enforcement Directorate. He has been questioned for his role in distributing the Holy Quran that was given to him by the UAE Consulate and also the Ramzan kits, which included dates.
This came after it surfaced that all this was happening in the name of the UAE Consulate here and various Central agencies have by now arrested several people including Swapna Suresh and P. S.Sarith, two former employees of the UAE Consulate, after it was found out that gold was being smuggled.
The high court, ever since the Covid spread increased in the state, on two occasions had ordered that there should be no protests as it violated the directives of the Covid protocols.
After finding the directives getting ignored, the court again got into the act and last week reiterated that at no cost should the law be broken.
Following this, the Cantonment Police station registered 25 FIR's against 3,000 people, including 100 women for taking part in protests that were held in front of the Secretariat.
In the past eight days, the police recorded the arrest of around 500 protesters also.
The maximum cases have been registered against the various wings of the BJP, including the Mahila Morcha, followed by the activists of the various wings of the Congress party.