States: Kerala; Embattled Force

India Today
November 2,1998

KERALA
Embattled Force

The state police is under fire from all sides: charges of atrocities, a damning crime graph and divisions within.

By M G Radhkrishnan

Embattled Force The Kerala police seems to be in serious trouble. While the force was still fending off charges of an increase in atrocities against innocent people, 18 of its personnel, including two IPS officers, were arrested in connection with a police firing in 1994 in which five CPI(M) activists were killed. The arrests have not only stirred a political row in the state but also created divisions in the police ranks. As if that wasn't enough, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has come up with the startling revelation that Kerala is the third most crime-prone state in the country after Rajasthan and Mizoram. And with the ruling left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) taking an active interest in its working, the state police have raised the bogey of politicisation and demoralisation of the force.

The human rights organisations are already up in arms against the police, charging it with brutality. In August alone at least four cases of alleged police atrocities, including a custodial death, were referred to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). On August 8, A. Thangal Kunju, a 61-year-old retired government employee of Alappuzha died in custody after the police allegedly beat him up. Kunju, a heart patient, was arrested because the police failed to nab his son who was accused in a case. Says Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, former Supreme Court judge and a human rights activist: "The atrocities are on the rise and the state government has turned a deaf ear to the NHRC directive to pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation to Kunju's family."

Kerala is one of the few states in the country which has still not implemented the NHRC directive to constitute a state human rights commission or set up human rights courts in districts. "Kerala under the LDF Government is fast becoming a police state," says Mukundan C. Menon, convenor, Kerala Civil Liberties Council. Embarrassed by the reports, Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar wrote in the party organ Desabhimani: "Policemen have no right to cross limits. Those who do would be thrown out." About 10 policemen allegedly involved in incidents of atrocities have since been suspended.

The arrest of 18 policemen on September 29, however, has kicked up a row in the state with the opposition charging the ruling coalition with settling political scores and demoralising the force. In November 1994, the police opened fire on leftist workers at Koothuparambu, Kannur, when they tried to block M.V. Raghavan -- CPI(M)'s bete noir and a minister in the then UDF government. Raghavan was arrested in the same case last year after a commissioner probing the incident found him responsible for the firing incident. The commission also said the firing was unprovoked and unjustified. What gives the old issue a new turn is the subsequent public statement by the state IGP (northern range) Jacob Punnoose that "subordinate policemen need not obey orders from above if they are patently illegal". Punnoose, who led the police investigation into the firing, defended the arrests and dismissed the arrested constables' stand that they had only obeyed orders from superiors.

Predictably, several former police officers and even the state IPS Association has taken exception to the statement. Says N. Krishnan Nair, a former DGP: "How on earth can policemen check whether a particular order given by superiors during a riot is legal or not? The statement was issued only to placate the political masters." Former chief minister and Congress leader K. karunakaran voiced similar sentiments, saying it was "an invitation to riot from within the force." The two constables' unions -- one pro-left and the other pro-UDF -- too are divided along political lines. But Nayanar dismisses charges of political vendetta, saying, "Taking action against erring policemen would not demoralise the force and the Government would protect all officers functioning lawfully." Though his remark allayed some apprehensions, the NCRB had more bad news in store.

The bureau's latest report on crime in the state came as a surprise to many. Released in September, it said that as many as 275 IPC offences per lakh of population were reported in Kerala, against the national average of 185. It also said the conviction rate in the state was among the lowest. State DGP B.S. Sastry, however, has challenged the NCRB's findings, saying that almost 60 per cent of the ipc cases were traffic offences or minor crimes. "If these are excluded," he says, "the offences would come to just 115 per lakh of population." He also says the figure for serious crimes like murder, dacoity, theft and rape was only 1.3 per cent in kerala against the national average of 4 per cent. The chief minister dubbed it as an attempt to malign his Government.

The report has certainly tarnished the image of Kerala Police. But with politics playing an overt role in its functioning, it's no wonder the force has been pushed into a corner.

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