THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the home department headed by CM Pinarayi Vijayan is under fire following emergence of allegations backed by CCTV visuals on custodial violence, official data reveals that the number of cases being registered by State Police Complaints Authority (SPCA) has been on a decline. In the past 14 years, the SPCA has registered 5,218 cases and disposed of 5,152. As many as 66 cases are pending.
The SPCA was formed in 2012 and 181 cases were registered then. In 2013, the number of cases rose to 469. In subsequent years- 2014, 2015 and 2016- the number of cases registered stood at 671, 645 and 626, respectively. However, surprisingly, the number of cases dropped to 146, 146 and 94 in 2022, 2023 and 2024, respectively.
SPCA chairman Retired Justice V K Mohanan said: “statistics-wise speaking, the complaints of police atrocities have come down drastically.” He did not specifically state the reason for reduced number of complaints and added that “there could be many reasons for it.”
According to him, the SPCA cannot register suo motu case as it does not have the mandate to do so. The SPCA, according to him, can register cases pertaining to custodial deaths, custodial rape and custodial torture of serious nature. However, there are many critics for the SPCA’s way of functioning.
State president of Congress-affiliated Indian Lawyers’ Congress, T Asaf Ali, said SPCA has been “dormant and dead” due to politicisation of the body. According to him, victims are least interested in approaching SPCA as it does not have legal mandate to punish the erring cops.
“Neither they have the mandate to punish the cops nor direct them to pay compensation. They can only suggest department-level action. I do not encourage victims to approach that body as it is very unlikely to get justice from there,” he said.