The State police and its statutory watchdog authority appear to be headed for a legal confrontation. Central to their disagreement was a contentious order passed by the Kerala State Police Complaints Authority (KSPCA) chairman and former High Court judge Narayana Kurup.
Mr. Kurup recently ordered the State to pay Rs.10 lakh compensation to the next of kin of a 27-year-old man suspected to have died of police brutality in the capital on May 21, 2014. He also ordered that the case be reinvestigated by a panel of officers of proven integrity.
In his damning report, Mr. Kurup had accused the police of having heartlessly covered up the death of the victim, Sreejiv, and made it appear as a suicide. A top police official, who said he could not come on record because of the prevailing election code of conduct, told The Hindu that the law enforcement would move the High Court against the authority. The police contention was that the body had no authority to consider a case already disposed of by the State Human Rights Commission.
He claimed that the KSPCA had overstepped its constitutional limits.
Kurup’s version
Mr. Kurup appeared to have stirred a hornet’s nest when he rejected the police finding that ruled out custodial torture as the cause of Sreejiv’s death.
The KSPCA chairman told The Hindu that he had perused forensic and medical reports and consulted experts to reach his findings in the case.
“The police decision to move the honourable High Court is welcome. I was guided solely by the principle of universal human rights. The victim was a youth who hailed from lowest echelons of society. He was killed for reasons I have stated in my findings. The protector has turned the aggressor in his case. My conscience is clear. I have upheld the truth and brought the wrongdoers to account,” he told The Hindu .
