Police brutality is a frightening reality. Many policemen, despite having undergone sessions of behavioural training, still appear clueless about the fine line between brutality and strictness.
A sub-inspector recently paid the price for his unwarranted behaviour when the State Police Complaints Authority directed his bosses to withhold his salary increments and register a criminal case against him under IPC 354 and 452. The officer, M. Sasidaran, was accused of using criminal force on a woman and her sons during his tenure as sub-inspector with the Guruvayur police station in March 2015. The officer, currently attached to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau in Palakkad, has been also asked to pay the department a fine of ₹25,000.
SPCA chairman K. Narayana Kurup issued the order on a petition filed by Sheela Lawrence, a native of Guruvayur. Superintendent of Police, Thrissur Rural, was asked to carry out the directive.
“The sub-inspector exceeded all limits of propriety by trespassing into the petitioner’s home and arresting her and her three sons maliciously and with a mala fide intent and oblique motive invoking Section 353 of IPC as a cover, which is totally unwarranted,” the order said.
Noting that the SI was not accompanied by a policewoman, the Authority also stated that the police made no attempt to rebut the claims of the petitioner and did not produce any counter evidence to this effect.
The case pertains to a complaint filed by an employee of the petitioner, who owned a car wash facility, on non-payment of salary. Following this, the SI and his team barged into her house and attacked the petitioner and her sons before marching them to the police station.
The SPCA also found that the then Circle Inspector of Guruvayur had earlier detained the petitioner’s son on a similar complaint. According to the Authority, the police also flouted an earlier circular from the State Police Chief and an order by the High Court, interdicting the police from intervening in civil disputes.
