Rajan and Ambili had spilled gasoline in an attempt to thwart an eviction attempt by the authorities on 22 December.
Hours after a Kerala man succumbed to burns after being accidentally set on fire while trying to thwart a police attempt to evict his family, his wife Ambili also passed away. The Neyyattinkara couple in Thiruvananthapuram suffered burns after Rajan, 47, was accidentally set on fire on December 22. Rajan died Sunday night, while Ambili, 40, died Monday night.
After an emotional appeal from the couple’s children to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Rajan’s body was cremated on the same land from which the family was supposed to be evicted. A Neyyattinkara police official told TNM that Ambili’s body is at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital and will be taken home after a COVID-19 test result.
On December 22, officials from the Neyyattinkara Police Station and a judicial commission appointed by a Neyyattinkara court had gone to Rajan’s house in Nellimoodu, asking the family to leave the house immediately to implement a court order. The decision to evict his family came on the basis of a complaint from a neighbor in June, according to Malayalam media reports. Also in early June, there was an attempt to evict the family from a shed that Rajan built on the land.
In a video of the December 22 incident, Rajan can be seen pouring gasoline on him and his wife, asking officials not to approach him. The couple caught fire when a police officer tried to remove the lighter from their hand. Deputy Assistant Inspector Anil Kumar also suffered minor burns while trying to rescue the couple.
The family told Asianet News that the police were in a hurry to evict them because they knew there would be a suspension order and noted that it came shortly after the incident. “The lawyer my father assigned first to the case betrayed him. The police and the plaintiff knew there would be a stay of the (Munsiff’s) court order and therefore the police came to evict us. It was Anil Kumar who was responsible for this, “said Rajan’s son Ranjith.
Watch video: The youngest son tries to bury Rajan’s body
So-called # KeralaNo1
“You (Kerala police) killed my father, only my mother remains (unfortunately she too succumbed after this), and now you are not allowing them to be buried.”
This is Ranjith, the son of the Dalit couple who immolated themselves to resist the eviction. pic.twitter.com/WaUzOkjbRz
– Sanakan Venugopal (@vssanakan) December 29, 2020
Meanwhile, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala urged the government to take over the protection of children.
Read: ‘Let’s bury him where he lived’: asks CM the accidentally slain man of Kerala’s son
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