The heart-breaking incident of the rape and asphyxiation of a five-year-old girl in Aluva here kicked off a political storm in Kerala on Sunday with the Congress-led UDF opposition and the BJP attacking the ruling Left government for the alleged lack of proper policing in the state.
Amidst the brickbats being hurled at it by the Congress and BJP, the Left government announced it was considering bringing a law to make registration of migrant workers mandatory.
On Friday, the five-year-old girl was abducted, brutally raped and killed allegedly by a migrant worker from Bihar who lived in the same building.
The child's family too hails from the same state. Her body was found dumped in a sack in a marshy area behind a local market in the nearby Aluva area here on Saturday.
The accused was arrested on Friday itself, but could not be interrogated as he was in an inebriated state, police had said.
He was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days on Sunday and the police said they will be seeking his custody for seven days when the matter is heard by a special POCSO court on Monday.
State Labour Minister V Sivankutty said in a government release that presently migrant workers are regulated according to provisions of the Inter-State Migrant Workers Act of 1979.
The necessary system for the registration of migrants would be prepared by the labour department.
Sivankutty said that over five lakh migrant workers are registered under the Awas Health Insurance Scheme introduced for them, and the labour department will take steps to identify all unregistered workers and get them onboard as well. Besides that, an 'Athithi (guest) app' would be launched next month to register migrant workers and it will contain comprehensive information about them.
Extensive campaigns will be conducted in connection with the app, and labour department officials will visit workers' camps and workplaces to register them on the app, the minister said.
The announcement came as the Congress and the BJP alleged that the state government was not using the police to ensure law and order and the safety of the people but for other matters.
Congress MP K Muraleedharan said that police were busier trying to rectify "microphone problems".
He was making an apparent dig at the recent registration of a case over the malfunctioning of a microphone because it interrupted Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's speech for a few seconds during a programme organised to commemorate the life of late Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy.
Speaking about the crime against the minor girl, Muraleedharan said, "It was a heart-wrenching incident and an insult to our state. What is the difference now between Kerala and a state like Uttar Pradesh? Is there any security here? The CM needs to take stringent measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents." The Congress MP also pointed out that it was the local residents of the area who found the body of the child the day after the incident and informed the police. "The child could have been saved," he added.
He further said that the government needs to view the issue seriously and take steps to find out how many migrant workers are there in the state and how many of them have criminal backgrounds.
The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a key ally of the Congress, alleged that the state government was using the police against those protesting for their rights.
IUML State General Secretary P M A Salam said that the accused in the present case was allegedly addicted to intoxicating substances and could not be questioned after his arrest as he was in an inebriated condition.
"The use of intoxicants and drugs is widespread in Kerala and that is because of the government. Bars that were closed during the Oommen Chandy government have been reopened," he claimed. The BJP too spoke along similar lines, with Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan lashing out at the police and the state government for "tooting its horn" by announcing the arrest of the accused.
"If the police had an iota of shame, it should not toot its horn by saying it caught the accused/culprit after the brutal rape and strangulation death of the victim. Why could the police not prevent the incident which took place during the daytime? Moreover, the culprit was able to mislead the police during questioning," the union minister said.
Firing a salvo at the police, he also said that the police were not being paid to apologise on social media -- in an apparent reference to the Kerala Police on Saturday posting an apology to the family of the victim on all its social media handles saying their efforts to reunite the child with her parents proved unsuccessful.
The union minister also said that it needs to be ascertained who all were responsible for the alleged "failure on the part of the police" in the minor girl's case.
BJP's Kerala unit president K Surendran said there should be a system in place to identify any criminal elements among migrant workers and alleged that some of them used drugs.
"There is no monitoring system in place. People are asking for a policing system based on the Uttar Pradesh model. Policing in Kerala is very weak. Proper investigation is not being carried out," he claimed.
State Public Works Department Minister P A Mohamed Riyas responded by saying no one has to date said that law and order is poor in Kerala. The state is at the forefront of policing, he said.
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