Kerala Police for hire? An old order is ruffling feathers after a private person used cops as an "attraction" at his daughter's wedding.
Published Aug 08, 2022 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Aug 08, 2022 | 1:48 PM
Police constables of Kerala in action. (Kerala police official website.)
₹700. That’s what it would cost you to employ a uniformed police constable to add to your private events in Kerala.
From weddings to parties, to rallies to get-togethers, the Pinarayi Vijayan government’s police policy allows you to avail the services of a constable for a day for just ₹700.
If you can afford an additional ₹1040, the constable would also be at your service for the next night.
Additional sub-inspectors can be hired for day duty at ₹1,870 and night duty at ₹2,210.
For sub-inspectors, the rates would be ₹2,560 and ₹4,360, respectively.
If you have more purchasing power, the circle inspector will be at your service at ₹3,795 for the day and ₹4,750 for the night.
The choice ends there, and the policy does not permit police officers above this to be employed at private events.
The government order permitting police department to enhance the non-tax revenue. The order is now interpreted in a way public can take police officials of Circle Inspector rank and below on rent for evengts like marriage.
Shocked? According to office bearers of the Kerala Police Officers Association (KPOA), the order in this regard has existed for quite some time, but it came into public focus only last week.
And it was all due to one K Ansar, a resident of Mokeri near Panoor in the Kannur district.
He came to know about this facility from his police friends, and approached Kannur’s Additional Superintendent of Police PP Sadanandan on 22 July to get two civil police officers in uniform for his daughter’s marriage.
Ansar told Sadanandan that some VIPs from Karnataka were attending the function and required security.
The police chief granted permission, and four civil police officers were selected. They were assigned for duty from 9 am to 5 pm on 30 July at the marriage venue.
The KPOA alleges that no VIP was present at the lavish wedding, and that the police officers were merely an “attraction” at the event.
Ansar paid the department ₹700 per officer as a hiring charge.
The annexure of the government order detailing various services public can rent out from the police. There is 10 percent increase on the rates. (Supplied)
“It looks absurd. Police personnel must not be products or services to be hired by private individuals. I don’t know much about the order that permits it. But the whole affair is something that must be discouraged,” said retired police officer and social worker N Subhash.
“It is against the spirit of a healthy and impartial law-and-order mechanism. In a democracy, the police have important roles to perform. They must not be commodities to be hired,” he added.
KPOA president Sunny Joseph said the association had already given petitions to the Home Department and the DGP to avoid the repetition of such an unhealthy trend.
“It’s a kind of humiliation for us. We are not enslaved to be traded. We are waiting for the government’s response, and a future course of action will be taken based on the response,” he said.
Sadanandan, however, also pointed out that he acted as per the prevailing orders.
“The police security was provided to a legally-organised private event. We even have provisions to depute constables for film-shooting purposes and different festival events by charging fixed amounts from the organisers,” he explained.
Other voices, however, were not as sparing. “We are not pets to be exhibited at marriage events and other posh programmes,” said a Facebook post by KPOA secretary CR Biju.
Read the full post here:
In the meantime, constables have started using fake social media accounts to protest against the government action.
Lawyer Harish Vasudevan clarified that Section 62(2) of the Kerala Police Act prevents private individuals from availing of police services for free or in lieu of payment.
Private individuals and firms can use the services of the state industrial security force if they have safety concerns.
Meanwhile, the prevailing order permits private individuals to hire police dogs at ₹6,950 a day. Wireless sets can be hired for 12 hours for ₹2,315.
Entire police stations can be hired at ₹33,100 per day for film shooting.
Fingerprint experts under the department will give their services to private individuals if paid ₹6,070 per day.
Forensic laboratory services are also available, at ₹12,130 per case.
Here’s the full list:
