Chaitra Teresa John has been cleared of violating any rules, yet the CPM is insisting on disciplinary action against her.
New Delhi: Is CPM above the law of the land? This is the question being raised in Kerala after the Left Front government summarily removed an IPS officer who conducted a search in the district committee office of the CPM in state capital Thiruvananthapuram. Chaitra Teresa John, a Kerala-cadre IPS officer, was holding additional charge of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) when on the night of 24 January she raided the local CPM office looking for some party youth leaders wanted in connection with an attack on a police station in the city the previous day. Teresa John claims that she had prior information that the culprits were hiding in the party office. However, she could not find anyone when she went there. The CPM, which put out CCTV footage of the raid, which lasted only three minutes and 22 seconds, made a big issue of it saying the officer purposely raided the office to “tarnish the party in public”. Despite repeated demands from various opposition leaders, the party has refused to reveal the footage before the police party reached the office. This has given credence to the opposition contention that someone belonging to the raiding party itself had tipped off party workers about the impending raid. Anyway, as soon as the district committee secretary complained to the Chief Minister, who also holds the home portfolio, the police officer was asked to step down even without seeking an explanation from her. CM Pinarayi Vijayan also ordered a probe against the officer, while state CPM secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan warned that no police officer would be allowed to “fly over” the state government. “Raiding party office was not a right action. The officer could not even find an accused inside the party office. I have got complaints against the police, after which I also asked the DGP to probe the action,” Pinarayi Vijayan informed the state Assembly on Monday.
Interestingly, even after the probe officer cleared that Teresa John had not violated any rules and had followed all procedures prior to a raid and the DGP approved the same, the CPM is insisting on disciplinary action against her. The investigating officer, ADGP Manoj Abraham, a confidant of the Chief Minister, had noted that “the police officer functioned within the legal framework and existing rules to maintain law and order”. Apparently, even the police advisor to the CM had warned the government against taking any action. However, it is reported that the Chief Minister is probing legal aspects to circumvent the inquiry report and “punish” the police officer. The Chief Minister is obviously under pressure from his comrades in the party. Party secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was forthright. “Party is not going to accept the police report. Chaitra had no authority to take up the case of attack on police station and hence has no right to enter the party office. “The government will not tolerate this,” he said. If not direct action, the government is planning a reshuffle of the police force and thereby keep Teresa John without any specific post. The CPM leadership is of the view that the raid of a party office by a junior police officer when the party is in power will send wrong message to the cadre. It is all the more a “prestige issue” for the party, especially when the Chief Minister happens to be Home Minister too. The party also wants to send “correct signals” to other police officers too. Meanwhile, the youth activists of the party who attacked the police station walk the streets of the capital city freely.
It is common knowledge that whenever CPM comes to power, it makes the police subservient to the party and its cadre. This time, in the wake of Sabarimala agitation, CPM has found a convenient excuse to brand anyone questioning its authority or criticising the government, as “Sanghis”. In the police officer’s case too, the bogey of Sangh Parivar was raised. The district secretary had questioned how the police dared to raid a CPM party office when it had not done so with the BJP. He cited the case of an RSS worker throwing a bomb at a local police station during one of Sabarimala-related hartals. The police are yet to arrest him. The secretary, however, will not accept the fact that his party is in power and hence responsible for law and order in the state. The Chief Minister also doubted the motive behind the police officer in conducting the raid. “Some vested interests have an inclination to tarnish the image of those in politics and there have been occasions when some people have fallen for such tendencies,” he had said. Only last month, members of the party’s student wing SFI were caught on camera beating up a constable for booking one of its members for traffic violation in Palayam, one of the busiest junctions in the capital city. The police had been told not to arrest any of them. There have been incidents of party men booked by police forcibly freed from custody. The message is very clear: Don’t meddle with CPM or its workers. In a state where the Chief Minister is still behaving like a party secretary, the general public cannot expect any better justice, even if he or she is an IPS officer. Ironically, only on 1 January, the state formed a “women’s wall” to uphold the rights of women in the state and called it second renaissance.