A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Thursday directed the State government to file a statement in response to a writ petition on the issue of higher police officers exploiting their camp followers and employing them for doing their personal chores.
When the petition was taken up for hearing, the Bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy orally observed that the issue was serious and a matter of public concern. The court asked the government to file the statement in four weeks.
The petition filed by P.D. Joseph of Thrissur sought an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Thiruvananthapuram District and Sessions Court into the alleged exploitation of camp followers by senior police officers.
The petitioner said that it had now surfaced that the camp followers were being exploited by senior police officers and forced to work as the latter’s slaves. They had to undertake menial works because they feared that their services would be terminated if they refused to do the bidding of police officers. The petitioner cited a recent incident in which Gavaskar, a police driver, was attacked by the daughter of Additional Director General of Police Sudhesh Kumar to buttress his contention.
Senior government pleader P. Narayanan submitted that some action had been taken by the government on the issue. As for the assault on the police driver by the daughter of a senior police officer, he told the court that an FIR had been registered and investigation was on.