Act of young woman IPS officer puts Ker govt in a fix

The bold act of a young woman IPS officer has put Kerala government, especially Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in a fix.

Superintendent of Police Chaithra Theresa John had hit the headlines after she initiated a late night raid on the Thiruvananthapuram district committee office of the ruling CPM in Kerala on January 24 in search of some party activists wanted in a police station attack case.

While the Chief Minister is now under pressure from the party to take action against the IPS officer for ‘causing insult’ to the party, the IPS officers have expressed strong opposition to any action against the IPS officer as there was no fault on her side. Carried away by the sentiments of the party local leaders, even Pinarayi Vijayan had openly slammed Chaithra’s action.

Even then, an enquiry conducted by Additional Director General of Police Manoj Abraham and endorsed by State Police chief Loknath Behera, was learnt to have found nothing unlawful on the part of the officer as she carried out the search following a tip-off that the DYFI activists wanted in a criminal case were hiding in the party office. The report is now with the Chief Minister.

Sources said that the government may wriggle out of the situation with some lame actions like transferring Chaithra from the present post of SP Women’s cell and keep her waiting for posting for some time.

Hurt morale

A senior police officer told DH that no political party offices have any legal protection from police searches. Hence, initiating action against the woman officer for carrying out search would affect the morale of all officers with commitment and integrity.

Chaithra, a 2016 batch IPS officer, had a good track record right from her IPS training days as she won a couple of titles for best probationers. But she was not in the good books of politicians owing to her bold outlook from the time she was Assistant SP in CPM stronghold Thalassery in North Kerala district Kannur.