In what can be considered a gentle reminder to the Kerala police, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the officials to give priority to the poor while enforcing law, irrespective of who is on the other side. He also said that there should not be a compromise while implementing matters regarding law and order.

This comes after the Kerala police have found themselves at the centre of several controversies in the state recently. For instance, from not collecting proper evidence to allegedly not recording statements of the witnesses, there were widespread allegations that the police had committed major lapses in the Walayar sisters death probe case. It eventually led to the accused, some of them alleged to be CPI(M) workers, getting acquitted.

The Chief Minister mentioned this in a Facebook post on the passing-out parade of the Sub Inspectors at the Kerala Police Training Academy in Thrissur district, although the post has not mentioned about the controversies as such.

“There is no need to look at the faces while enforcing law. It should be done without partiality. Justice should not be denied to the poor. In fact, police should take a stance to give priority to the poor,” Pinarayi Vijayan said in his Facebook post.
 
Read: Police excesses and blunders under Pinarayi’s watch: Disappointment mounts in Kerala

“It should be understood that it is significant to help people and to gain their trust. Anybody should be able to come up to the police station without any fear or hesitation,” he said.

Specifying about the passing out parade, Pinarayi Vijayan said that it was for the first time that men and female Sub Inspectors were given the same kind of training. Of the 121 SI trainees who passed out of the academy, 37 are women.

Women are usually given training separately. But the female trainees in the passed-out batch were trained along with the male trainees for more than a year.