Ruling CPI(M) leaders, activists booked for violating COVID curbs

Pathanamthitta (Ker), Sep 7 (PTI): A group of workers of the ruling CPI(M) have courted controversy for allegedly violating the lockdown restrictions in connection with COVID-19, following which police registered a case against 50 of them at Kuttoor in Thiruvalla in this south Kerala district. The local unit of the Marxist party had allegedly conducted a meeting on Sunday to give membership to around 100 new entrants.

The visuals of the event, attended by several leaders, including the party's state committee member K J Thomas, were aired by television channels later.

Leaders and activists, including women, could be seen assembling en masse, violating restrictions on Sunday, the day in which intense lockdown curbs were in place in the state.

As the issue became a controversy, police in Thiruvalla registered a case against 50 identified people without naming anybody in the First Information Report (FIR) under the Kerala Epidemic Disease Act.

However, a senior police officer rejected allegations that they deliberately omitted the names of the ruling party leaders though the identity of the participants were very clear in the visuals.

''We registered a case against around 50 people. It is based on the primary information. After a detailed probe, further action will be taken in this regard. We are registering similar cases against the lockdown and protocol violators every day,'' he told PTI.

The local BJP leadership also lodged a complaint against the lockdown violation by the ruling party leaders and activists.