Quick response: Why is Kerala police facing serial charges of human rights violations?

Kerala police under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan keeps doing bizarre things. One of the smartest police forces in the country has arguably become the most anti-people force. Two cases this week showed how easily they bend rules to deny justice to common people who are attacked by individuals in power.

In both cases, the police framed charges against the complainant. In one instance, the complainant was slapped with non-bailable offence. In the first incident, a powerful MLA aligned with the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) assaulted a young man in broad daylight and abused his mother. He threatened the young man and challenged him to file a case if he wanted. "We rule the state, you try filing a case with the police," MLA Ganesh Kumar reportedly said.

"I will finish you off. Try filing a case. I'm ruling here. You don't know who I am," the film star-turned politician told the man. The victim told Manorama News that each outburst by the MLA was interspersed with abuse and cuss words.

"He abused me dirtily but what he told my mother was worse .. I can't repeat those words," 22-year-old Ananthakrishnan told the leading news channel.

Bending rules for the powerful

The young man was hospitalised after the MLA and his driver thrashed him in front of his mother in a road rage incident. In the end, the police booked the victim with charges of assaulting the MLA with a weapon while the MLA was booked for the minor offence of man handling. The latest incident comes close on the heels of charges that the police under Pinarayi  Vijayan twists the facts of a case and openly sides with the people in power.

In the second incident, a policeman accuses the daughter of his boss of assault and repeated insults. A day after the complaint is filed, the police twists it completely and books the complainant under non bailable charges.

The policeman, named Gavaskar, was attached to the Armed Police Battalion commanded by ADGP Sudheesh Kumar, a Kerala cadre IPS officer. His complaint said the 24-year-old daughter of the ADGP assaulted him while she was being chauffeured back home after a morning walk at the Museum grounds. He said the assault came after incessant verbal abuse. The policeman's statement included details of inhuman treatment meted out to the cops on duty at the ADGP's house.

Gavaskar was admitted to a local hospital after the ADGP's daughter allegedly hit him with the mobile phone on his head and neck. Gavaskar said initially the ADGP pressed him to withdraw the complaint. When he refused, the police slapped non-bailable charges of outraging the modesty of woman.

Last month, the Kerala police had earned notoriety after the officers abetted the kidnap and murder of a Dalit youth who had married a girl from a different community. In another incident, the police in Kochi was involved in the custody murder of an innocent youth they had mistakenly picked up in connection with a case.