Kerala's law and order in shambles with political murders, goonda attacks

From back to back political murders to attack on common people by goonda gangs, from police inaction in genuine complaints to public trial of a minor girl with a false accusation of mobile phone theft, all is not well on the law and order front in Kerala for quite some time.

With the political leadership hardly initiating any visible steps to put things in order, resentment is brewing among the people. In a damage control bid the police launched drives to nab anti-social elements and in Thiruvananthapuram city alone over 200 wanted criminals were nabbed during the last 24 hours.

Anti-social elements are literally going on a rampage even in the state capital with innocent people also coming under attack, the latest being the attack on a father and daughter at a busy junction on the suburbs of the city on Wednesday evening. The same locality had just witnessed a goonda gang murdering a rival gang member and throwing his chopped off leg on the streets.

Also Read | Alappuzha murders: Kerala government under fire for lack of arrests

While political murders are not unfamiliar to the state over the last several decades, the recent murders at Alappuzha exposed serious lapses of the police as it failed to prevent a second murder, indeed an act of retaliation, in a gap of hardly ten hours.

The state also witnessed a series of instances of police inaction on genuine grievances mainly domestic violence and dowry harassment complaints of women leading to the victims ending life or being killed at husbands' houses. Even last month a 22-year old woman ended life in Ernakulam after accusing the police of mentally harassing her after she lodged a domestic violence complaint against her husband and in-laws.

Also Read | Kerala government loses fight against eight-year-old as High Court orders compensation for police harassment

The other day the Kerala High Court ordered compensation of Rs. 1.5 lakh to an eight-year-old girl who was harassed by a woman police personnel in the public by accusing her of stealing a mobile phone from a police vehicle.

While Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who heads the home portfolio, often maintains silence, in some instances the left-front government even justified the police. Even in the mental torture of the minor girl the errant woman police officer was strongly backed by the government even in the High Court, which invited the court's criticism.

CPM politburo member M A Baby told DH that the recent political murders involving SDPI and BJP-RSS and the subsequent hate campaign over the social media were part of deliberate attempts to create unrest in the left-front ruling state as the left-front was only taking a stern stand against communal politics. He also said that the instances of lapses of policing were caused by a section in the police force and the Chief Minister had conveyed stern messages to such officers. The left-front would also ensure functional freedom to the police.

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