Kerala to drop NEET protest cases, says Ramesh Chennithala

Thiruvananthapuram, July 31 (AHN) Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Friday announced that the state government has decided to withdraw all police cases registered in connection with statewide protests held in solidarity with the agitation in New Delhi over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination.

The Minister said representations seeking withdrawal of the cases had been submitted by Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Pinarayi Vijayan, Tushar Gandhi and several prominent personalities to the Chief Minister and the Home Department.

Acting on those representations, he said, he had directed the State Police Chief (SPC) not to proceed further with the cases.

"These are general law-and-order cases. There was no serious violence or atrocity. Even the Supreme Court adopted a positive approach towards the issue. Therefore, there is no need to pursue these cases further," Chennithala said.

The Home Minister also announced that the Police and Prisons Departments had jointly launched ‘Operation Toofan’, a statewide crackdown on narcotics inside prisons.

Raids began at 2 a.m. and were continuing across jails following intelligence inputs that some inmates were using and trafficking drugs within prison premises.

He warned that stringent action would be taken against those found involved.

Expressing concern over reports of drugs being supplied to students through online delivery services, Chennithala described the trend as extremely serious.

Referring to the recent Perambra case in Kozhikode, where three women teachers and a delivery executive have allegedly come under the scanner, he appealed to delivery personnel not to become conduits for narcotics and warned that police would deal firmly with such networks.

He also called for an end to social media campaigns that promote or facilitate drug trafficking.

On the controversy surrounding the PM SHRI scheme, Chennithala accused the previous LDF government of signing the agreement with the Centre without informing even its coalition partner, the CPI, or obtaining Cabinet approval.

He said the present government could not simply withdraw from the agreement as it would result in Kerala losing Central assistance.

Instead, the government would seek greater flexibility from the Centre on issues such as curriculum and the selection of schools under the scheme.

Taking a swipe at Rajya Sabha member and CPI(M) leader John Brittas, Chennithala questioned why he had failed to raise these objections when the agreement was signed under the previous Pinarayi Vijayan government, saying the LDF could not now shift responsibility to the present administration.