Kochi: A Kerala court on Tuesday extended for a day the interim bail granted to Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan and Ernakulam District Congress Committee president Mohammed Shiyas in connection with a protest sparked by the death of an elderly woman in an elephant attack in Idukki district.
The Congress MLA confirmed that he and Shiyas were granted relief by the court and said that the matter would be heard again on Wednesday.
Both of them were arrested on Monday night by the police in connection with the alleged untoward incidents during a protest at Kothamangalam near here.
Earlier in the day, speaking to reporters at the protest venue in Kothamangalam, Kuzhalnadan said non-bailable provisions of IPC, the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, and Kerala Health Workers' Act were invoked against them.
He claimed that it was the police which provoked the protestors three times.
"In view of the unwarranted police action, we will strengthen our protest. They wanted to jail me for at least a day, but it was unsuccessful. The government has been working for sometime to target me," he alleged.
Kuzhalnadan also said that he and Shiyas were initially granted interim bail by the court in the wee hours of the morning and the matter was going to be heard again during the day.
Later in the evening, Kuzhalnadan said that the court extended the relief till Wednesday morning when it will hear the matter again.
The protest on Monday was led by Kuzhalnadan and Idukki MP Dean Kuriakose with hundreds of locals joining in.
They refused to hand over the body of the elephant-attack victim, Indira Ramakrishnan, for post-mortem.
A scuffle broke out with the police during the protest.
According to the police, the body was forcibly taken from the mortuary for the protest.
However, the victim's husband told the media today that he and his son consented to the body being used for the protest.
The 70-year-old woman died after being attacked by a wild elephant in the Kanjiraveli area in Idukki on Monday.
She was trampled by the elephant while serving breakfast for her husband in a rubber plantation near the forest area.
Despite being rushed to a nearby hospital in Kothamangalam, she succumbed to her injuries.