Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 3 Keralam Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday assured action over the alleged assault on a YouTuber by a group of Youth Congress workers inside a police station in Pathanamthitta district, asserting that nobody would be treated differently under the law.
He said the Director General of Police (DGP) had asked the Superintendent of Police (SP) to submit a report and that, if necessary, further action would be taken after reviewing it.
“A case had already been registered at the time of the incident, and one person was arrested. The case is under investigation. The law is equal for everyone, and nobody has the right to violate it,” he told reporters here.
“Violation of the law is wrong, irrespective of who commits it, be it me or you. The police function in accordance with the law, and no violation will be tolerated,” he said.
Chennithala expressed concern over what he described as a growing trend of accused persons being released from police stations and warned that he would take strict action against those responsible.
“There will be no special consideration for anyone, irrespective of their identity. Anyone who commits an offence or attacks police personnel inside a police station will face action,” he said.
He was responding to questions about CCTV footage purportedly showing a group of Youth Congress workers assaulting YouTuber Rajan Joseph inside Adoor police station in July.
The visuals, aired by television channels on Saturday, appeared to show the workers manhandling Joseph while he was in police custody.
The footage appeared to show Congress leader Sreena Devi Kunjamma, who had lodged a complaint against Joseph, entering the police station and confronting him.
Joseph was arrested by the Adoor police in July following a complaint by Kunjamma, a Congress district panchayat member, alleging that he had posted defamatory content about her on social media.
The incident occurred on July 11, when Joseph was brought to the police station after being arrested in Kochi.
The Adoor police subsequently registered a case against around 20 people, including Youth Congress workers, over an alleged attempt to assault him while he was being brought to the station.
Meanwhile, Chennithala launched two digital initiatives, HM (Home Minister) Acts and HOMES, aimed at improving the monitoring of public grievances and providing real-time information on major crimes reported in the state.
He said the initiatives would strengthen the monitoring of petitions submitted to the Home Minister’s office and improve oversight of police functioning.
Explaining HM Acts, he said every petition submitted to his office would be registered, forwarded to the officials concerned and monitored until appropriate action was taken. Complainants would also be informed about the progress and action taken on their grievances.
He pointed out that several complaints remained unresolved for years, with complainants often unaware of the status of their petitions.
“Every petition will be registered, action will be taken on each complaint, and the complainant will be informed about the action taken by the Home Minister’s office,” he said.
He added that officials concerned would be directed to act on individual complaints and take steps to resolve them based on his instructions.
The second initiative, HOMES, will provide the Home Minister with real-time information on major crimes and alerts about incidents requiring urgent attention.
A dedicated dashboard will display details such as the number of FIRs registered, categories of crimes reported and action taken by the police. This will enable the minister’s office to access crime statistics within seconds without waiting for information through conventional channels. However, confidential investigative details and personal information of individuals will not be displayed on the dashboard, Chennithala said.
The system will provide general crime statistics, including the number of missing persons and murder cases reported in the state, enabling the Home Department to monitor police functioning and improve its effectiveness.
The HOMES software was developed by the Kerala Police’s Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) wing without any additional expenditure, he said, appreciating the efforts of the police personnel involved in its development.
The government has also decided to increase women’s representation in the Keralam Police to 30 per cent by revising the existing male-female recruitment ratio from 9:1 to 7:3.
Describing it as a major step, Chennithala said the move would ensure greater representation of women in the police force.
(PTI News)
