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Highway robbery back?

THIRUVANATHAPURAM: The incident of a group of miscreants, suspected to be highway robbers, attacking a family travelling in their car on the Bypass Road in the city on the night of Ramzan, subsequently resulting in the hospitalisation of a woman with severe injuries, has sparked a fresh debate on the resurrection of highway robberies, which had been a menace to the city police until a few years ago. Most of the employees of the Technopark, the IT hub of the city, are terrified over the incident, since Lubina, the victim of the attack, was also an employee of the park. She had suffered severe head injuries after her husband, Sudhir, did not stop the car when the miscreants signalled on the bypass near Muttathara and they hurled a huge stone towards the car. Their 16 month-old-son was also injured in the attack. ‘’Those people had signalled our car to stop. When I did not oblige, they unleashed their anger on us by hurling a stone at us,’’ said Sudhir. He also said that a complaint was registered with the Fort Police on Thursday in this regard. The employees at the Technopark have posted their protests on the website of the Technopark in which they highlighted the need for more security measures around the Park. Another employee of the same firm where Lubina works told ‘Expresso’ that despite the incident that shook the city, he had not came across a police patrol on the Bypass when he left his office in the nights. "Moreover, there are no street lights on the stretch," he added. Meanwhile, the police downplayed the incident saying that it might well be a result of a drunken brawl. There was no evidence of a robbery. The police also said that they had been successful in ending the menace of highway robberies completely. City Police Commissioner M R Ajith Kumar told ‘Expresso’ that contrary to the public notion, no such incidents like highway robbery were brought to the notice of the police. ‘’The people who raise allegations should report the matter to the police. Only then the police can take action,’’ he said. However, he said that such unfortunate incidents could be prevented if the problem of lack of street lights on the Bypass was solved. Regarding this, Thiruvananthapuram Range IG Hemachandran said that though the City Police had approached the City Corporation for installing street lights on the Kovalam-Kazhakkoottam stretch as part of converting it into a model road, it did not materialise owing to the lukewarm response of the Corporation authorities.

                                                                                                               
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