Kerala govt will never shield any police officer who has done wrong: Pinarayi Vijayan

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said his government would never shield any police officer who has committed wrong. He asserted that wrongdoers in the police force will face stringent action, including dismissal.

“Wrongdoings in the police will not be tolerated. Officers found guilty will facethe stringent punishment, including dismissal,” Pinarayi Vijayan said

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Stating that the government has no responsibility to protect policemen who committed wrong things, he asked as to who turned the Kerala police into an escort for goons

“Congress used the police for its own interests. The LDF tried to bring about a change in the police,” he said

The Chief minister’s statement came in response to the opposition Congress-led UDF’s scathing attack in the assembly against the alleged custodial torture cases in the police stations in the state , raised through an adjournment motion moved by Congress legislator Roji M John

Recalling the history regarding the police brutality, CM Vijayan said the communists were the ones who had to face the most police brutality in Kerala after 1947. The Chief Minister said that he was not beaten up in Stalin’s Russia but during the Congress regime led by Nehru.

“There was a time when communists could not even hold demonstratations. If they demonstrated, they were beaten up,” . Chief Minister Vijayan said

Participating in the discussion on the adjournment motion on the alleged police atrocities , Opposition leader VD Satheesan launched a scathing attack on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Enumerating the series of alleged custodial torture incidents in the state, Satheesan demanded that Chief Minister Vijayan should relinquish the Home portfolio

Satheesan said that this is not Stalin’s Russia, but democratic Kerala. He said that if the Chief Minister tries to flatter Stalin, he will question him. Satheesan alleged that the government is encouraging the corrupt in the police force. The entire police are complicit in corruption,he alleged .The cops responsible for the Kunnamkulam custodial torture should be dismissed from service, he demanded

The Opposition leader said the ruling party is justifying the police who had beaten up the DYFI regional secretary. He criticized the fact that the accused in the TP Chandrasekharan murder case were taken to a five-star hotel by the police

Meanwhile, the Congress-led UDF launched an indefinite hunger strike at the entrance of the assembly, demanding the dismissal of policemen involved in the custodial torture of Youth Congress leader Sujith at Kunnamkulam police station . Saneesh Kumar (Congress’s Chalakkudy MLA) and AKM Ashraf (Muslim League’s Manjeshwar MLA) began the indefinite
hunger strike on Tuesday.