Free Sukma Collector, scream Facebook friends

CUDDALORE: “Free Alex! It is the voice of young India now,” reads a comment on the Facebook page ‘Free Alex Paul Menon’. The Facebook page was created by an American, Jim Peters, on April 21 and has been demanding Menon’s safe release. Until Wednesday the page received over 2,400 likes, and 1,800 people talking about it. Explaining his relation with Menon, Peters said the collector is his wife Nazreen’s nephew and she was his teacher at Rose Mary Matriculation Higher Secondary School. “I first heard that a collector had been abducted in Chhattisgarh. Knowing that Alex was posted there, I began searching the internet for more information, which is when we received the bad news that he was the one who had been abducted,” Peters told Express.The Facebook page has photos of demonstrations and rallies held in Tamil Nadu and images of posters requesting the government to take steps for Menon’s release. The page also provides updates about the developments in the case.“While talking with family members throughout the day, we felt the need to do something, that is when the idea of creating a Facebook page came up. We wanted a place where we could share information about what was happening,” Peters said.About Menon, Peters said, “He is an incredible young man and we wanted to make sure that his friends, classmates and relatives could have a place to get information.” On the updates, he said, “We have a team… friends, classmates etc who contribute to the page. This team keeps updates going round the clock.”