THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition UDF attacked the government in the Assembly over the rise in murders and quotation gang attacks in the state. While admitting that there’s criminalisation in police, the government maintained it was successful in reducing the same.
Referring to the recent quotation attack on former RJ Rajesh in Attingal on Tuesday, UDF alleged the government and the Chief Minister lost control over the police. Alleging police failure in controlling quotation gangs, Opposition UDF staged a walkout from the House.
The government, however, refuted the charges saying the number of murders has come down compared to the tenure of the UDF Government. The Opposition is projecting isolated incidents, the government said.
Seeking leave for an adjournment motion in the House, K Muraleedharan alleged that for the general public the police appear as protectors on one side and as butchers on the other. “The police play the role of goondas while the goondas are police-sponsored,” he alleged.
He also criticised the government for its attempt to grant remission of sentence of TP case accused. “The tuition given to policemen has not been effective at all. Soon after the tuition class on how to behave with the public, the police have been behaving badly with the public,” he said.
Scary statistics
In connection with Operation Kubera, a total of 14812 raids were carried out between May 11, 2014, and March 28, 2018. Of these 3,378 cases were registered and 2,198 people were arrested. A total of 5.95 crore was seized, G Sudhakaran told the House.
427 cases came up in connection with KAAPA. Of these 81 people were arrested and put in prison.
As per the government info given in the House in 2012, as many as 246 murders were registered in Thiruvananthapuram. On an average 50 murders per year were registered during the UDF’s tenure. However, after the Left took over in 2017, the average number of murders has become five.
A total of 21 murders were registered in 2017, the minister said. He added that goonda attacks have come down to average 83 during the LDF tenure compared to 302 during the UDF’s time.