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CM Stalin urges police to eradicate custodial deaths
Stalin also wanted the police to arrest those who are accused in sexual offences and crimes under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012 immediately.
Urging the Tamil Nadu police to completely get rid of custodial deaths, chief minister on Sunday said such deaths in state have reduced from 17 in 2018 (during the AIADMK regime) to four in 2021.
Stalin was speaking during the President’s Colours award ceremony held in Chennai.
The awards were presented by Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu. “I’m not saying that there are no custodial deaths but I’m saying that they have lessened. I’m asking the police to ensure that there are no custodial deaths,” Stalin said.Stalin, however, credited the police’s contribution to make Tamil Nadu a peaceful state because of which “more industries are coming to the state” . “There are no caste and religious clashes, no police firings, no bootlegging,” he added.
Stalin also wanted the police to arrest those who are accused in sexual offences and crimes under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012 immediately. “Immediate action should be taken in such cases,” he said.
The Stalin-led Dravidian Progressive Federation (DMK) government has come under criticism by the opposition for deteriorating law and order in terms of recent murders, custodial deaths of V Vignesh in May and S Rajasekar in June in Chennai police stations. Courts have also come down hard on custodial deaths. On June 10, the first bench of the Madras high court remarked, “Custodial deaths show that the police are becoming mad. That they beat until a person is dead, shows the madness of the police involved.”
The opposition AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) also blamed the DMK led government for not preventing the recent violence over a student’s death in Kallakurichi. After the student was found dead on her private school hostel premises on July 13, the protests by locals and her family escalated into a riot-like situation on July 17. The state immediately transferred the Kallakurichi superintendent of police, district collector and the state intelligence officer.
The Tamil Nadu Police is among the few police forces and only the fifth state force in the country to receive the President’s Colours award. Though this was approved for the state in August 2009 when late M Karunanidhi was the chief minister, it could not be presented in all these years. Vice-President Naidu presented the President’s Colours award for the Tamil Nadu Police to the chief minister in a customary ceremony in Chennai’s Rajarathinam Stadium.
Stalin said that receiving the award was not only a matter of pride for the state police force but also for Tamil Nadu. Stalin recalled that it was under Karunanidhi that women police personnel were inducted into the force in 1973, a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country and now they are present in all wings of the police force. “Do not be a police force that just prevents crimes but also one which creates a situation where crimes do not happen,” he said.
Meanwhile, Naidu said that the Tamil Nadu police force was one of the best in the country. He urged them to also deal with modern day crimes such as cyber security.
