A person accused of child sexual abuse escaped recently from the first-line treatment centre (FLTC) at the Kochi airport convention centre, throwing light on the challenge facing the police in guarding the arrested who test positive for SARS-COV-2.
The infected among those arrested by the police and Excise are put up at the FLTC at Kochi airport along with the other infected members of the public. Though police personnel are put on guard duty at the centre, security remains far from foolproof.
“We have taken up the matter with the District Disaster Management Authority, citing that it is really tough to keep a tab on the accused who remain mixed with civilians. A possible solution is a separate FLTC for the arrested. With more among the arrested increasingly testing positive since September, the task is getting progressively difficult,” said K. Karthik, District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural).
While the centre has multiple entry and exit points, police personnel are deployed only at the main entrance, which is more than 100 metres away from the facility. “The accused are not always in the sight of the police guards who have to largely depend on information from health and paramedical staff at the centre. We have already petitioned the District Police Chief and now plan to raise it with the District Collector as well,” said M.V. Sanil, district secretary (Ernakulam Rural), Kerala Police Association.
Mr. Karthik said the presence of criminals accused of heinous crimes amid them might be disturbing for civilians at the centre as well.
At present, those arrested and remanded by the court are taken to a detention centre being run by the Jail Department at Karukutty near Angamaly. They are then tested for SARS-CoV-2, and those returning negative results are sent to jails, while the ones testing positive are shifted to the FLTC at the Kochi airport.
Though security is far better, even the detention centre at Karukutty also remains vulnerable as was exposed by the two successive incidents of escape by an accused from there in as many nights suggest. “Unlike the prison fortified by high walls, the detention centre has no such protective walls, and an accused who manages to give the guards the slip can easily flee or take cover in the thick vegetation outside the centre,” said a police official.