Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday held Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his police adviser Raman Srivastava responsible for the “progressively worsening” law and order situation in the State.
In a damning indictment of the government’s record on its second anniversary, Mr. Chennithala said Kerala was in the grip of a crime wave and the police offered no solace. The people felt insecure even in their homes. On Sunday, an armed gang had killed a breadwinner, Vijayan, 59, in his own house in Irinjalakuda.
Mr. Chennithala said he had counted at least nine custodial deaths and 25 political murders since Mr. Vijayan assumed office. He also listed at least a score of instances of alleged police excess against citizens.
He said the current leadership of the police force was rudderless. Mr. Srivastava reportedly wielded extra-constitutional authority over the force and illegitimately involved himself in the day-to-day affairs of policing. The “adviser has reduced the role of the State Police Chief to that of a mute onlooker,” he said.
The Chief Minister and his adviser had populated critical law and orders posts with “time servers and yesmen” who answered to them and not to the law. Consequently, the police have tottered from one crisis to another, often fluctuating between inaction and unjustified aggression.
