Oppn walks out alleging govt failing to reign in police force

Thiruvananthapuram: Alleging zero intervention from the state government to rein in the police force, which is facing serious allegations relating to custodial torture and deaths, the opposition on Thursday staged a walkout from the assembly.
By pushing an adjournment motion notice highlighting the custodial torture of auto driver Hakkim at Nedumkandam police station in Idukki district on June 14, the opposition tried to bundle up all recent custodial deaths and tortures together in a bid to prove that chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan was a failed home minister.
The chief minister, however, said the government was taking a tough stand in cases relating to custodial torture and while saying so assured the House that strict action, including removal from service, were awaiting those involved in such subhuman practices. “This government has so far taken disciplinary action against 12 police officers and dismissed three others from service in connection with custodial torture and related cases. You don’t have to worry about actions, it will certainly follow. This government, he said, doesn’t have a policy to protect criminals. Of course, there were governments in the past that justified all the crimes on the similar lines,” the CM said.
Comparing the number of custodial deaths during the LDF and UDF rules in the past, the CM pronounced his government to be in a better position.
The opposition, however, termed the CM’s claims about ‘strict action’ a hackneyed phrase. “Whenever there is a custodial torture or killing by police, the chief minister stands up in the House to avow that the guilty would be punished. Invariably, he would refer to the incident as an ‘isolated one’. How can something that happens on a daily basis be termed isolated,” said MLA Shafi Parambil, presenting his notice for adjournment motion. Listing out the names of at least half a dozen persons who have lost lives in police custody, Parambil claimed that at least 32 persons have lost their lives, in the past three years, either at the hands of police or in connection with instances closely connected with police. Hakkim was taken into custody following a quarrel with his wife. Police had beaten him to a pulp.
“Hakkim and Rajkumar were beaten black and blue at the same police station. It is his sheer luck that saved Hakkim from death. It is horrific to come to know that police had sent for Hakkim’s mother and asked her to pay Rs 4,000 for repairing the iron bars of the lock-up that got bent when Hakkim had clutched them when he was beaten up from behind. The hapless mother who had not that much money at hand brought a local blacksmith to the police station and got the lock-up gate repaired, spending Rs 700. What action does the chief minister talk about and what corrective measure has the government taken to put an end to such barbaric practices in our police stations?,” Parambil asked.