Thiruvananthapuram: Five students with hearing and speech impairment, who were travelling in a car, were held by the police at Kollam district in Kerala on Saturday night in order to avoid obstructions to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s motorcade. The five were later let off without initiating any legal action.
There has been widespread resentment in Kerala over the inconvenience often caused to the public owing to the security arrangements for the Chief Minister.
It was on Saturday night that the five students of the National Institute of Speech and Hearing in Thiruvananthapuram who were returning after a leisure trip were stopped by the police near Chadayamangalam on the suburbs of Kollam. The police were patrolling as the Chief Minister was travelling towards Thiruvananthapuram at that time.
A police official told DH that the vehicle was stopped after noticing that the vehicle was not giving side even for ambulances. Since it was raining, the visibility ws also poor. Subsequently it was found that all the five students, including the driver, were having speech and hearing impairment and were not using hearing aids. Hence to ensure their safety, the institute authorities were informed and they were let off after officials from the institute came.
(Published 16 October 2023, 22:16 IST)