NewsKASARAGOD: The State government wants to put in place a new Kerala Police Act in place in a year, Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said. The Minister was inaugurating the newly constructed office of the District Superintendent of Police here on Saturday.
The Police Act Review Committee headed by DGP Jacob Punnoose had already submitted the draft bill, Mr. Balakrishnan said. The government would introduce it in the Assembly without delay and it would be referred to the select committee, he said. He said the government expected to complete the whole process in a year. He pointed out that the current Act, which was based on the laws enacted by the British, needed to be changed urgently.
The Home Minister said the State government had embarked on several reforms in the police force after it came to power two years ago. He said the Jana Maitri Suraksha Project was a part of the government’s effort to make police people-friendly. Mr. Balakrishnan said the government was actively considering merging armed reserve police with the local police.
Referring to the vacancies in the police force, Mr. Balakrishnan said the recruitment procedure of policemen would be changed.
As per the current procedure, around 3,000 vacancies of policemen remained unfilled always and the new system envisaged reporting vacancies to the PSC in advance every year, considering the number of policemen retiring, noted Mr. Balakrishnan.
He said the government had decided to end ban on direct recruitment of women to the post of Sub Inspector in the State police service. He hailed the decision as an important step aimed at ending discrimination based on gender.
Commenting on the issue of a section of corrupt police officials in the district siding with the accused in the Safiya murder case registered at Adhoor police station here, he said Crime Branch investigation into the issue was going on and all culprits including policemen would be brought to book.
Kasaragod MLA C.T. Ahmed Ali presided over. Those who offered felicitations included C.H. Kunhambu, K.V. Kunhiraman, Pallipram Balan and K. Kunhiraman, all MLAs, and District Collector A.T. James. Inspector General of Police, Kannur, T.P. Santharam, welcomed the gathering.
