The Kerala Police's Pink Police unit that was introduced to specifically ensure the safety of women and children has put a minor girl along with her father to severe mental harassment, accusing them of stealing a mobile phone from a police vehicle.
A woman police personnel has been transferred from the Pink Police on Sunday after the incident triggered widespread public ire and the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights registering a case against the police.
The incident took place at Attingal, about 30 kilometres from Thiruvananthapuram city, on Friday. The child went to the town with her father Jayachandran to witness a trailer carrying a huge consignment to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram as the movement of the huge cargo along the national highway had received much attention.
Jayachandran parked his vehicle near a Pink Police patrol's vehicle. Later a woman police personnel accused the father and daughter of stealing her mobile phone kept in the police vehicle. Her theory was that Jayachandran lifted the mobile phone and handed over it to his daughter. As the police interrogation in the public started, Jayachandran, who is a rubber tapping worker, and his daughter, who is a third-standard student, pleaded ignorance. The police even reportedly frisked the father and daughter in public.
Some onlookers had captured the police interrogation on their mobile phones. Later the ‘stolen mobile phone’ was found in the police vehicle itself. This triggered public ire against the police. But the women police justified their act stating that they only ruled out suspicion and did not harass the father and daughter.
With the video of the incident going viral, the police higherups conducted a probe and a woman civil police officer was transferred out of the Pink Police patrol unit on Sunday after the allegations were found to be prima facie true. Further actions are likely to be taken against her, said sources.