The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition walked out of the Assembly on Tuesday, accusing the government of failing to curb rising crime.
Seeking leave of the House to move an adjournment motion, Congress legislator Anwar Sadat said daily reports of abduction and rape of minor children, attacks on women in public places, rampant drug abuse and street violence have rattled the public.
He accused Chief Minister of Pinarayi Vijayan of leading an ivory tower existence far removed from the trials and tribulations of ordinary people who felt highly vulnerable to wanton crime. He wondered whether Mr. Vijayan was abreast of the law and order situation in the State. Mr. Sadat alleged that proxies controlled the police through a clique in the Chief Minister’s Office.
The Opposition leaned its arguments on the abduction and rape of a child in Aluva.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan portrayed the crime as an example of the police dismally failing ordinary citizens. He drew a parallel between the recent offence and a comparable abduction, rape and subsequent murder of another child in Aluva on June 28. Both children belonged to migrant parents. Criminals on the loose had spirited the children away from their houses. “The situation was scary. People felt unsafe in their homes,” Mr. Satheesan said.
Mr. Satheesan said patrolling and community interaction had hit an all-time low. Policing circumvented poor neighbourhoods. Police presence on the streets was dismally low. Women, children and victims of crime got no justice at police stations.
He contrasted the “overzealous arrest and manhandling” of the 94-year-old human rights activist ‘GROW’ Vasu with the police’s “recurrent failures” to insulate society from criminals.
Mr. Vijayan took strong exception to Mr. Sadat’s accusation that a clique hijacked the Home department. Such insinuations were delusional and patently false. The police arrested the suspect in the second incident in Aluva within hours. The law enforcement worked in tandem with the local community.
The Kerala Police had the highest detection and conviction rate in the county. The State police were auditing guest workers to weed out criminal elements.
Mr. Vijayan said community policing lay at the heart of the State’s law enforcement policy and the government would strengthen the initiative.
