‘You Can’t Bury the Case With Influence’; We Stand With the Family of Victim, Says Pinarayi on Cheranalloor Car Crash

Thiruvananthapuram: Opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan has questioned what kind of law enforcement allows people who cause fatal road accidents to receive special privileges and preferential treatment because they have money and influence. The police, who are responsible for ensuring equal justice for all citizens, must not be reduced to serving as escorts for the wealthy and influential, he said.

Pinarayi alleged that the police had repeated the same attempts to protect an accused person in the Nedumbassery accident in Cheranalloor as well. Jayabalakrishnan, an ordinary citizen, was killed when a luxury car travelling at high speed hit him. The car was driven by a 17-year-old who was a minor and did not have a driving licence. Who gave the police the authority to rewrite the law because the accused was the son of a judge, he asked.

The accused’s name was not mentioned in the FIR, which instead listed the person as ‘unknown’, he alleged. He also accused the police of attempting to destroy evidence by seizing the phones of local residents who had recorded footage of the accident.

The government was shielding an attitude of impunity among the children of influential people, who believed the police would cover up any violation of the law they committed, he alleged.

Pinarayi said it was an embarrassment to a democratic society when those responsible for ensuring justice for victims instead protected the accused. The UDF government and the police should not assume that the case could be buried through the misuse of influence, he said.

He added that the people of Keralam would stand united with Jayabalakrishnan’s family in its fight for justice.