Allegations of police highhandedness and human rights violation have rocked Kerala as two activists of the Muslim Students’ Federation (MSF) were handcuffed after being arrested for "no serious" charges.

T.P. Afreen and C. Faseeh, Kozhikode district functionaries of the MSF — the campus arm of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) — were arrested in Koyilandy of Kozhikode district on Sunday afternoon for waving black flags at a protest against the primary education minister over shortage of the higher secondary seats.

The police put handcuffs on the two youth leaders while taking them for medical examination after the arrest. They released the duo on station bail after registering a case against them.

“The very fact that they were released on station bail means there were no serious charges,” Moideen Koya, Kozhikode district secretary of Youth League — the youth wing of the IUML — told The Telegraph on Monday.

The two student leaders are among the six named in the FIR citing IPC sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 283 (whoever, by doing any act, causes danger, obstruction or injury to any person in any public way), 153 (wantonly doing anything illegal) and 149 (common objective for unlawful assembly).

The protest by the student leaders was about the shortage of Plus 1 — Class XI — seats in north Kerala districts where students are forced to seek admissions in private colleges or move out of the state because of the large number of candidates for each available seat.

The police booked a second case against the MSF and the Youth League activists who protested against the handcuffing incident outside the Koyilandy police station around 8pm on Sunday.

Leaders of the MSF and its parent IUML said that the police explained the handcuffing as a mandatory requirement after an accused stabbed house surgeon Dr Vandana Das to death last month when taken for post-arrest medical examination in Kottarakkara of Kollam district. But MSF leaders pointed out how leaders of the CPM’s campus wing Students’ Federation of India (SFI) arrested in criminal cases were taken around with no such restraints.

The handcuffing comes at a time when the Left Front government is already facing allegations of targeting Opposition leaders and journalists.

P.K. Kunhalikutty, national general secretary of IUML, a Congress ally, slammed the police for handcuffing the student leaders and demanded action against the erring police officials.

“Everyone has been lamenting for the last few years about the shortage of seats for Plus 1 and degree courses. And now students who protested against this have been arrested and handcuffed,” he told reporters on Monday.

“We have seen how the police have been taking around arrested SFI leaders as if they are VIPs. But those who protest for a noble cause as this one (demanding Plus 1 seats) are arrested and handcuffed,” he said.