Karunakaran puts Antony on notice

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NOV. 6. The senior Congress leader, Mr. K. Karunakaran, has virtually put the Chief Minister, Mr. A. K. Antony, on notice asking him either to rein in the police or be prepared to face the consequences.

Coming down heavily on the manner in which the Kozhikode DCC president, Mr. M. Veerankutty, had been arrested last Thursday, Mr. Karunakaran told a news conference here today that as a person who had fought, he and other partymen would not remain passive onlookers to such police highhandedness.

``The Chief Minister should clarify whether it is the UDF's police policy to arrest the district leader of the Congress flouting the Supreme Court directives on how arrests should be effected. Or else he should rein in the police,'' he said.

It was a far-from-tentative Mr. Karunakaran who faced the media as he lashed out at the Chief Minister with carefully- crafted phraseology. He did not spare Mr. Antony's supporters also in the Congress and went so far as to suggest that outsiders were interfering with the police administration in the State.

He was certain that the DCC chief's arrest and the subsequent statement by the Kozhikode DIG owning up responsibility for it could not have come about without Mr. Antony's knowledge. ``I would be belittling Mr. Antony if I say that he was in the dark about all that,'' he quipped.

He said even Ministers were getting a raw deal from the police officers and attempts by at least two of them to take up the matter with the Chief Minister had proved futile. The Power Minister had complained to the Chief Minister about a police official who had not cared to heed his request relating to a person in his constituency. The Minister from Kozhikode also had had a similar experience, he said.

Mr. Karunakaran said a section of the police force would behave as they pleased if the political executive did not keep a tab on them. The UDF came to power on account of the hard work put in by the workers and the Government could not behave in an irresponsible manner towards them.

The arrest of the DCC president, he said, amounted to contempt of court because the Supreme Court had laid down the procedures to be followed when arresting people. These guidelines have been printed and circulated. If there are people still unaware of these things, they should not be retained in the police force, he said.

Mr. Karunakaran recalled that he and Mr. Antony were one in alleging that the LDF Government had let loose the police. The situation today was equally bad. The police had no qualms in beating up people who had gathered to watch a youth festival and a couple who had gone to the police with a complaint leading to suicide.

Mr. Karunakaran said it was no use getting angry when he tried to point out such flaws. If such attitude of the police persisted, he would not hesitate to give vent to his feelings. As a freedom fighter, he had broken the police cordon and breached prohibitory orders to speak in Thrissur in August 1942. Breach of law for the right causes was quite lawful, he said.

Asked whether the KPCC leadership had acted responsibly, he pointed out that the KPCC executive had met immediately and urged the Government to initiate action against the police personnel.

Taking a dig at Mr. Antony and the UDF convener, Mr. Oommen Chandy, he recalled that when Congress workers indulged in even worse forms of agitation in 1994, neither the then KPCC president (Mr. Antony) nor those who were in the Government for a brief period (Mr. Chandy) gave any advice to the Government or try to rein in the workers.

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Section  : Southern States
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