The Pinarayi Vijayan government is unlikely to take any retributive action against Chaitra Teresa John, Superintendent of Police, who was caught in the centre of a rancorous political controversy last month by raiding the district committee office of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Thiruvananthapuram.
Officials said here on Thursday that the political executive, who was miffed by the officer’s action, had, after long deliberations, appeared to have agreed with the Police Department’s finding that she had not overstepped her legal authority. He supervisors had informed higher-ups that they could not formally fault her for giving pursuit to suspects who had thrown stones at a police station.
Wide resentment
They also said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who had come under considerable pressure from his party to ‘discipline’ the officer, appeared to have revolved around to the view that Ms. John had perhaps acted in good faith. Departmental action had seemed imminent against the officer when Mr. Vijayan stated that the officer’s action smacked of a disdain for political workers.
CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had echoed a similar sentiment.
However, the CPI(M) might seek legal recourse against the officer on the charge of having barged into the house of a suspect, a party worker, at night, assaulted his family, and abused them by their caste name. The family has filed a complaint against the officer.
The police have maintained that the charge was false and the SP had conducted herself professionally. Ms. John had inspected the CPI(M) office after getting information from the Intelligence that the accused in the medical college police station attack case had sought refuge there.