FIR against Austrian woman
Commotion prevailed in front of the Fort Kochi police station on Tuesday evening after activists of the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) thronged the station demanding registration of a rst information report (FIR) against an Austrian woman who was detained by the police after being accused of pulling down Palestine solidarity boards and banners put up by the SIO.
Complaint led
SIO activists lodged a complaint seeking registration of an FIR against her under IPC Section 425 (Whoever with intent to cause, or knowing that he is likely to cause, wrongful loss or damage to the public or to any person, causes the destruction of any property, or any such change in any property or in the situation thereof as destroys or diminishes its value or utility, or aects it injuriously, commits mischief ). After hours-long protest and sloganeering, the police eventually decided to register an FIR.
SIO activists claimed that another woman, also Austrian, was involved, and that they had traced her and shared her whereabouts with the police though she was yet to be taken into custody.
Sections invoked
The Fort Kochi police conrmed that an FIR was being registered but declined to divulge details about the accused or the Sections being invoked.
The chain of events started on Monday night when the woman detained by the police allegedly ransacked a couple of pro-Palestine boards and a banner mounted at Kamalakkadavu near the Fort Kochi beach. The other woman allegedly lmed it.
“The boards and banners had been there since New Year and had the support of local people. Locals protested her act and alerted us. We traced her to a homestay and informed the police following which she was detained on Tuesday. The police initially kept dilly-dallying on our demand that an FIR be registered against the women,” said Fuaad P.S., SIO president, Kochi.