Kerala Leader of Opposition Satheesan condemns police excesses under Pinarayi Vijayan’s tenure

The Kerala Police, once comparable to the Scotland Yard, have thoroughly degenerated during Pinarayi Vijayan’s tenure, which has been marked by a string of very disturbing stories of police excesses, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said here on Friday.

Talking to mediapersons, he said that the brutal manner in which a police officer had assaulted a pregnant woman who had come in distress to the police station with young children in tow because her husband was taken away by the police, was way too cruel and unprecedented. The incident which took place right in front of her family shows the true face of police under the Pinarayi Vijayan regime, he said.

Even more serious was the fact that the Chief Minister, who heads the Home department, did nothing to investigate the incident, even though he received a complaint in 2024 , Mr. Satheesan said.

He asked whether the Chief Minister did not have the facility to get information about the incident which took place in a police station or whether he chose to ignore the complaint. The Chief Minister should apologise to the people for the abominable manner in which his police force was treating the public and ensure that those responsible for the incident are punished, he said.

It should be probed whether the Chief Minister’s office or any senior Police officials had intervened to protect the officer accused of violence. Had the victims not shown the tenacity to pursue the matter in court, this case of police brutality would never have come out in the open.

Under the Chief Minister, the police seemed to view the public as prime enemies, he added.

It was disgraceful that a police officer in the rank of DIG was taking bribes from criminals in exchange for arranging their parole. Under the Chief Minister’s police regime, criminals with money and muscle power can remain in the comfort of their own homes rather than the jail .

He pointed out that the promise given by the Chief Minister on the floor of the Assembly that action would be taken in the incident wherein a Youth Congress leader was assaulted by the police, remains as a mere promise

Referring to the parody song on the Sabarimala gold theft which had resulted in the police filing a case against the song writer and others associated with it, Mr. Satheesan said that it was becoming very clear that the State was being ruled by an extreme right-wing Government, which was so intolerant that it could not even allow a parody song because it seemed to make fun of the ruling dispensation.

He pointed out that Communist Party of India [CPI(M)]’s M. Swaraj had been recorded spewing nonsense about Lord Ayyappa and that had not offended the sensibilities of CPI(M).

He said that the government, so drunk on power, had become unhinged following the defeat in the local body polls that it could not tolerate anyone even singing a parody song that seemed to lampoon them.

Mr. Satheesan also welcomed the High Court’s ruling, cancelling the preliminary licence granted for the setting up of a brewery at Elappully, Palakkad, that it vindicated the objections raised by the Opposition.