Govt plans for Police Complaint Authority: Minister

Thiruvananthapuram, July 16 (UNI) Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan today told the State Assembly that the government had decided to constitute a Police Complaint Authority in the state.

Responding to questions from Mr P Thilothaman and others, he said the decision was taken on the basis of a notification on Police Act Amendment Ordinance issued by the government on April 2 this year.

Mr Balakrishnan said the object of constituting the authority was to examine the complaints received by the government against Police Superintendents and other top police officials above him.

He also said besides this, district-level authorities would also be constituted for the purpose.

The state-level complaints authority would be constituted with a retired High Court judge as its chairman and an official in the rank of principal secretary and another official in the rank of Additional Director General of Police as its members, while the district-level authority chairman would be a retired district judge with district collector and police superintendent as its members, he said.

The Home Minister clarified that the government was planning for a comprehensive reform in the Police Act and already appointed a committee to prepare a draft in this regard.

Mr Balakrishnan said the government had noted serious lapses in the investigation of the sensational Udayakumar lock-up murder case and had approached the court seeking permission to re-investigate the case.

The government would take departmental action against those involved in the case with the permission of the court, he added.

UNI