The Government of Kerala is reportedly all set to award Good Service Entry to the police officers who ‘rendered good service in maintaining law and order’ in the State during Nava Kerala Sadas (NKS). Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) M R Ajith Kumar IPS, officer-in-charge of law and order in the State, has dispatched instructions to the District Police Chiefs (DSPs) and Deputy Inspector Generals (DIGs) to award Good Service Entry to the police officers who did ‘remarkable performance’ in maintaining law and order in the State when Cabinet travelled in the State in a luxurious bus in connection with the much publicised Nava Kerala Sadas.
This latest development has raised eyebrows in the entire State. Because, since the very beginning of the Cabinet Yatra, police atrocities against the peaceful protesters had been hitting the headlines. At one place, the protesting Youth Congressmen were hit by DYFI workers with plant pots, iron rods and helmets, causing serious head injuries to the victims. CM Pinarayi Vijayan interpreted the incident in an unusual manner. He said that Youth Congressmen were doing a suicidal attack; therefore, DYFI’s action was a rescue operation. He added that it should be continued in other parts of the State, if it is necessary. Incidentally, police remained mute spectators during the inhuman attack of the DYFI workers.
Later on, several similar incidents took place. In another place, CM’s gunman jumped out from the vehicle and beat the Youth Congress protesters brutally. The attack was done when the protesters were caught by the police and kept under their control. And, police did not move a little finger to stop the gunmen.
On another occasion, a physically challenged Youth Congressman was brutally attacked by police. In several places where the Cabinet Yatra passed through, Youth Congress black flag protesters were attacked by DYFI men, and police kept silent.
In Kollam, DYFI workers attacked Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha workers and again, the police did not go for any effective intervention.
In another incident, a police officer squeezed the neck of a protester tightly despite the victim suffered pain and suffocation. In Thiruvananthapuram, a police vehicle ran over a Youth Congress protester’s leg. His leg bone is broken.
Some policemen are reportedly facing criminal cases for attacking the protesters. Still, the Government, read Home Ministry, read CM Pinarayi Vijayan, is all set to felicitate and laud the same police personnel. In other words, this proposal for the Goods Service Entry is nothing but a ‘thanksgiving’ for brutally attacking the peaceful protesters.
Sarcastic comments doing the rounds in the State say that ‘rescue operation’, a terminology CM contributed to the vocabulary, has replaced the phraseology’ attack against the protesters’.
Legal experts say that according to the Police Manual, police personnel who indulge in the aforementioned activities should not be felicitated; if it happens, it sends a wrong message to society and policing.
