On July 22 this year, K Ansar, a resident of Mokeri in Kerala’s Kannur district approached Kannur’s additional SP, PP Sadanandan, to ‘hire’ two police constables in uniform for security of some VIPs attending his daughter’s wedding. Mr Sadanandan granted permission, and four civil police officers (CPO) were ‘given away’. They were assigned the duty from 9 am to 5 pm on July 30 at the marriage venue.
Actually, no VIPs turned up at the wedding, and the CPOs were hired at Rs 700 per head only as event’s ‘attraction’ and just to flaunt the host’s status in the society.
It’s not just constables, but even senior officers up to the rank of circle inspectors may be hired in Kerala. Additional sub-inspectors can be hired for at Rs 1,870 per day, a sub-inspector for Rs 2,560 and a circle inspector for Rs 3795 for a full day.
DOGS MORE EXPENSIVE THAN INSPECTORS
Police dogs at Rs 6950 per day are a little expensive than police inspectors. Wireless sets can be hired for 12 hours for mere Rs 2,315. Not only that, an entire police station can be hired at Rs 33,100 per day.
Not only that Keralites now need to pay for procuring documents like a copy of FIR, fingerprint report or even postmortem reports. These documents could be procured from the police for free so far till the state government issued an order last year.
Kerala police officials claim that the order has been in existence since 2010 to ensure some revenue for the state government from non-tax sources. Government Orders (GOs) were periodically issued to revise the rates – the last order is dated June 15, 2022 (A copy of GO is reproduced herewith).
The Kerala Police PRO Mr Pramod Kumar too dismisses the issue. “We can’t do anything about it as this order has not been issued by the police but by the state government. It will remain on force till withdrawn by the government”, he told Indian Masterminds. He clarified that the police station or the wireless sets could be hired only for shooting of a film.
Kerala police officials however are livid at the ‘disgrace’ being heaped upon them. According to Kerala Police Officers Association (KPOA) president Sunny Joseph, the association has already submitted petitions to the Home department and DGP. “We are not slaves who can be given on hire. Our future course of action will depend on government’s response,” he told Indian Masterminds.
POLICE OFFICIALS ENRAGED
KPOA General Secretary CR Biju too says, “Section 62 (2) of Kerala Police Act states that “No one has the right to use the special police for free or charging a fee for a private person or property alone.” But if police department’s land or materials are to be used, the government order is in place setting the exact rate for that.
A former IPS officer, Mr RK Vij too expressed dismay at the Kerala model wrote on social media: hiring of police personnel on payment basis is not new. “Such hiring for security of industrial establishments is permitted in in Chhatisgarh. But, Kerala Model is worth studying. It is something new”, said 1988-batch former special director general of police (DGP) of Chhatisgarh Cadre.
