Indian man protesting since 2015 becomes social media star

Protesting for more than 750 days against the alleged murder of his brother while he was in police custody, SR Sreejith has risen as a star on social media.

Netizens from all around the world united in justice for Sreejith, urged the country’s federal investigation agency to probe into the matter of his brother’s death under police detention – a death the forces say was a suicide after the man was arrested over an alleged mobile phone robbery.

At first, no one paid any heed to Sreejith, as he sat outside Kerala’s state secretariat in the city of Trivandrum every day since May 22, 2015 under harsh weather conditions.

However, that did not deter Srieejith from his search of justice. Rather he persisted and persevered against all odds to make himself heard.

"I saw my brother tied up to a cot in the government medical college hospital before his death. He wanted to say something. He was wearing an oxygen mask and there were visible bruises on his body. But the police guarding him prevented me from going closer," Sreejith said.

A song made to depict Sreejith's struggle has raked in over half a million views online and a large number of people took part in a rally march aimed at urging authorities to take action some time back.

The death of Sreejith’s brother under mysterious circumstances only goes to show the gravity of extra judicial killings in countries like India and Pakistan, the case being similar to that of Naqeebullah’s where the youth was killed in a fake police encounter earlier this month.