Teacher booked for derogatory FB comment against Kathua rape victim

MALAPPURAM: Kadampuzha Police on Tuesday registered a case against Higher Secondary teacher of a government-aided school at Vattaparamba near Marakkara in the district for sharing a 'hate' comment against Kathua rape victim on Facebook.
According to KP Vasu, Sub-Inspector of Kadambuzha police, the case was registered against PB Harilal, who is Malayalam teacher of VVM Higher Secondary School in Marakkara, based on a complaint lodged by a local CPM leader.The arrest would be made only after examining the content of social media accounts of the accused, said police.
Harilal was suspended from service by the school manager on Monday after the school authorities received written complaints against the teacher's FB post from the parents and local residents.
It is learnt that Harilal had shared a comment justifying the gang-rape and murder of the eight-year old girl in Kathua in Jammu, posted by Vishnu Nandakumar, who is facing legal action for the same post and the post shared by teacher had triggered strong protest among parents and other locals in the region.
Vishnu Nandakumar, assistant manager of a private bank in Kochi, had posted on Facebook that “Ivale ellam ippozhe konnathu nannayi… allenkil naale Indiaykku ethire bomb aayi vannene” (Better she was killed now itself, otherwise she could have come with a bomb against India tomorrow). The bank had terminated his services after a complaint against him.
After Harilal shared the same post, the local people, including parents of students who are studying in the school had launched a campaign demanding action against the teacher. In view of protest, the school manager Cholayil Basheer had come up with clarification that the teacher has apologised for his Facebook post and the manager had also urged public to stay away from protest. The manager also apologised for the post shared by teacher, in a public statement.
But the protest demanding expulsion of teacher continued and the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of the school also had demanded the school management to take action against the teacher, which led to the suspension of Harilal.
Kadampuzha police informed that cyber wing of police will conduct detailed examination of Facebook posts and comments of the accused before making his arrest. We have to verify the authenticity of the accounts and the posts, before interrogating the accused, a police official said.