Right-wing activist Rahul Easwar stages hunger strike in Thiruvananthapuram prison

Thiruvananthapuram: Right-wing activist and social commentator Rahul Easwar is staging a hunger strike in a prison in Thiruvananthapuram where he is kept in judicial remand in the case pertaining to defaming the woman who lodged a sexual assault complaint against Kerala MLA Rahul Mamkootathil.

Easwar is staging the protest alleging that the police invoked fake charges against him for denying bail. He is only taking water after he was remanded on Monday.

Easwar's wife Deepa told reporters that though bailable charges were only invoked against him initially, the police later invoked non-bailable charges as part of conspiracy to put him behind the bars. Hence he was staging the protest in the prison.

Easwar who was in Thiruvananthapuram district prison was later shifted to the central prison in the district.

Several others, including Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary and former BJP leader Sandeep Varrier, were also booked by the police on charges of defaming the woman.