Seven people including a CPI(M) functionary were arrested on Thursday for allegedly assaulting a four months pregnant woman in a village in the district on January 28. The victim, identified as 28-year old Josna Sibi, had to undergo a forced abortion after the assault.
According to police, Josna Sini was kicked in the womb by Thettalil Thambi, a CPI(M) branch secretary of Velamcode, when she tried to intervene in a boundary dispute between her husband and neighbours. Josna Sini was severely bleeding and was then rushed to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital where she had to undergo an abortion.
“I started bleeding and was in immense pain. My husband rushed me to a hospital where the doctors informed us that there was blood clot in my placenta, following which they had to conduct an operation on February 2. The doctors gave us our dead baby, whom we cremated in Mavoor. Even then their threats did not stop,” the victim was quoted as saying by Times Now.
The incident came to light only when Josna and her husband sat on a dharna in front of the Kodancherry police station on Wednesday, demanding an action against the criminals. The woman also alleged that the CPM activists had also threatened to chop off the legs of her husband if she did not withdraw the complaint.
Sibi, also a mother to a five-year old son, lodged a complaint in this connection on February 2. After an investigation, the police arrested six persons today, while one accused was arrested on February 8.
The accused were arrested on charges of unlawful assembly, rioting, voluntarily causing hurt, criminal trespass and wrongful restraint.