A YOUNG Dalit youth who was subjected to a severe third degree torture in lockup by the Kerala police and as a result had underwent an eleven day long painful treatment, has passed away on July 11. P V Sibi (39), a head load worker from Marangattupilly village of Kottayam district was the new victim of custodial torture. Sibi was taken into custody for an alleged reason of drinking alcohol in public place. Sibi is survived by wife Priya and three children. The brutality of the police force of Kerala under home minister Ramesh Chennithala, is alarming. This incident follows the series of police atrocities on the students who protested against the delay in the distribution of textbooks for the schools. This new incident occurred on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the proclamation of political emergency in Kerala. Sibi, son of Vishwambharan and Leela was admitted to Medical College Hospital in an unconscious condition. He was put on a life support system. Doctors found cerebral bleeding due to brutal custodial torture. He succumbed to injuries on July 11. There was a huge protest against this incident and as a result, George Kutty, sub-inspector was suspended. The State Human Rights Commission has taken a suo moto cognisance of this incident. CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan demanded a thorough enquiry and filing of a murder case on the guilty. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala announced a crime branch enquiry into this incident. SFI Activists Attacked for Distribution of School Text Books Muslim League goons destroyed the text books distributed by the Students’ Federation of India in schools in Tirur (Malappuram), Kerala on July 14. SFI has been distributing text books in publicly-funded schools all over Kerala during the past few days, as a mark of protest against the huge delay in the distribution of text books by the Congress-led UDF government. The education minister is from the Muslim League, and the Muslim League goons in Kainikkara near Tirur found it intolerable that activists of SFI and DYFI are exposing the failures of the education minister and the government through this protest which has gained enormous support from the people of the state. The League goons attacked SFI activists, grabbed the copies of the Std. IV English text books that were brought for distribution and destroyed them. A few SFI activists suffered minor injuries in the attack.