Year After Pregnant Kerala Woman Was Slapped In Police Station, Cop Suspended

Over a year after he pushed and slapped a pregnant woman inside a police station in Kochi, the then station house officer has been suspended.

CCTV footage from the Ernakulam North police station showing the incident from June 20 last year is being widely circulated, triggering outrage. The incident came to light on Thursday after the Kerala High Court ordered the footage to be produced.

The woman Shymol NJ, a Kochi resident, had gone to the police station to seek information about her husband Benjo, who had been arrested earlier in the day and been remanded to custody for five days. Benjo had allegedly recorded police personnel assaulting two individuals in a public place on his mobile phone, following which he was detained by plain clothes officers and taken to the station.

CCTV visuals showed Shymol approaching the Station House Officer Prathap Chandran KJ and asking about her husband. Moments later, the officer is seen pushing her on the chest and slapping her across the face. A woman police officer is also seen slapping her in the footage. Other officers, including women police personnel present at the scene, later intervened and restrained Chandran. Shymol later told the court that she had asked one question before being assaulted.

On Friday, the couple told reporters they would continue their legal fight until the officer is dismissed from service. "I pleaded with the police after seeing my husband being assaulted. Other than touching the officer while trying to stop the assault, I did nothing wrong. I was at the police station with my two children," Shymol said.

Shymol filed a petition before the Ernakulam Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate court seeking a judicial inquiry into the incident. She also sought Chandran's dismissal from service. The petition is scheduled to be considered next month.

Chandran told reporters that the woman had created ruckus inside the police station and even attacked a woman constable. " She was uncontrollable and a women colleague was pushed and the policewoman had undergone a uretal surgery." He added, "That was not a planned incident. I acted at the moment. The situation was going out of control. I am not anti-woman."

More allegations of assault against Chandran have surfaced, one from Kakkanad native Rinesh, who claimed he was beaten with a stick and punched in the face while sitting under the Ernakulam North Railway Overbridge in April 2023.