A video has gone viral in northern Kerala, particularly in Kannur. In the video, shot by a bystander, a couple of police officers from the Kannur police station are seen misbehaving with street vendors. At a time when street vendors and others face deep economic setbacks, the visibly inhuman behavior from the police personnel has attracted widespread criticism on social media.
TNM dentified the street vendor who faced the mistreatment as Sajid, a native of Kannur. The policemen in the video can be heard screaming at the street vendors asking them to move, which Sajid opposes. Though it is raining, the police remove the umbrella and one police man first kicks Sajid's cart making fruits topple down and then he pushes the cart again.
This happened at a market in Kannur, Kerala. When contacted this street vendor, he said the police demand street vendors not to do their business in the market. This means an end to their livelihood@thenewsminute @thewire_in pic.twitter.com/jrA9uyrWPV
— Muhammed Sabith (@MuhemmadSabith) September 12, 2020
Sajid told this reporter that the incident happened at the Kannur market on Friday.
However, the harassment allegedly increased after the video went viral and even people from outside the state shared it on social media. The police picked up Sajid in the evening on Friday and seized his mobile phone.
The police have asked Sajid not to sell fruits in the market in future, a demand that may cause further trouble for this ordinary man.
“Are you a terrorist?”
Sajid and and another vendor Rasheed said the police used abusive words against Sajid both at the market and at the police station.
“They used abusive words against me and my family. They called me ‘son of a dog’. I protested against this,” Sajid said while narrating Friday’s incident at the market.
"They (the police) grabbed my balance weight scale. They also wanted me to remove the umbrella (when it was raining). When I told them I will remove it by myself, they pulled me. They kicked my cart, letting the fruits drop from it," he explained.
The verbal abuse continued at the police station, where Sajid was asked if he was a “terrorist”, according to Rasheed.
Sajid said the police came in three vehicles at around 6.20 pm on Friday and took him to the station, where his phone was seized. He was released after around one hour, but his phone was kept at the station.
“They took my phone, showed me a photo of a person whom the police said was someone from north India. They then asked me if I was a terrorist,” said Sajid.
On Friday evening, while asking Sajid to leave from the station, the police also told him to visit the station on Saturday. On Saturday, the police gave back his phone in the afternoon, but with a demand that he should not sell fruits in the market.
“I know no other job. I would have driven an auto if I know how to,” Sajid said.
According to Rasheed, “an MLA from north India” shared the video of Friday’s incident, asking disciplinary action against the police officer. “What contact you had with this person? Aren’t you a terrorist?,” the police asked Sajid showing photo of the “MLA”, according to Rasheed.
“I am doing this job for more than 10 years, know no other job”
Sajid has been selling fruits in Kannur market for more than 10 years, and is already struggling financially due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Father of three daughters, Sajid said he is the only breadwinner of his family.
He alleges this is not for the first time the police personnel mishebaved with him and other vendors in the market.
Police want the street vendors, who have been part of the market for several years, to stop their business in the market. Vendors say this is a tough demand that could destroy their livelihood.
Sajid asks how he can stop his small business, his only livelihood, in the market. “I have been doing this job for more than 10 years. This is the only job that I know,” he says. “I told them (the police) that I am selling fruits to survive”.
Other vendors alleged that this was not the first time that the police personnel misbehaved with them and caused them financial loss. “Earlier, they (the police) took eight trays of mangoes, worth around 10,000 rupees. When we approached the police to get it released, they said it has been ‘donated’ to an orphanage,” one vendor said.
The police declined to comment on the allegations when this reporter called the Kannur Town police station. The officer who attended the call asked to contact the sub inspector on his mobile. When contacted, the S.I. did not respond to the calls and texts. The calls and texts to Yathish Chandra IPS, the district police chief, also went unanswered. This report will be updated when the officers respond.