PALAKKAD: The sordid ordeal of 84-year-old Bharathi Amma, who had to engage in a four-year-long legal battle to prove her innocence, clearly indicates the lack of professionalism of some state police officers, who are keen to just “complete” tasks entrusted to them, even if it is at the cost of the truth and it involves harassing a senior citizen for no fault of her own.
“The police personnel who arrested Bharathi Amma did not bother to cross-check her statements. In 2019, when cops arrived in Kunissery to arrest my 80-year-old aunt, all her nearby relatives congregated and tried to convince officers that they have the wrong person. But officers would not have none of it. They insisted she is the same Bharathi who had jumped bail, following her arrest for causing damage to the house where she worked as a maid. Cops said that if my aunt did not volunteer, a woman officer would be sent to pick her up. We then promised to produce her at the station the next day, following which they left,” recounts P V Anup Kumar, a close relative.
“My aunt had gone to court four or five times for hearings, but every time the complainant, Rajagopal, would not be present. Subsequently, we decided to visit the house of the 79-year-old, who suffered from a heart ailment, in Kallikad, to set the record straight. Rajagopal had filed the police complaint on behalf of his then 80-year-old father, Govindankutty Menon, in 1998. It was during our visit that we came to realise that Rajagopal had not received any summons. We assume that the police, on realising that they had messed up the case, had purposefully not served the summons. Naturally, a case is kept pending when a witness does not turn up. Officers may have thought that this is the best way to not expose their wrongdoing,” said Anup Kumar.
It is perplexing to note how an officer was not able to recognise the difference between an engineer’s wife and a maid in spite of Bharathi Amma producing her pension book, he said. “My aunt had clearly stated that her husband was employed with the PWD in Tamil Nadu and they had no children. She had returned to Kunissery 44 years ago after her husband had died and she has never worked as a maid,” said Anup Kumar.
“Moreover, there was a 20-year age difference between the maid and Bharathi Amma. All these glaring dissimilarities did not prevent police personnel from naming my aunt as an accused. Thus, when a special drive to solve long-pending cases was announced in 2019, certain officers, in their desire to please their superiors, dusted off a two-decade-old case and arrested 80-year-old Bharathi Amma, instead of the maid, Bharathi, against whom Rajagopal had filed a police complaint for damaging his doors, window panes and flower pots after dismissing her,” he added.
“On realising the goof up, officers may have decided not to serve the summons and tried to close the case or prolong it. The casualty in the process was my innocent aunt,” Anup Kumar added.
Bharathi’s counsel, Girish Nochulli, said they will file a petition with the State Human Rights Commission and send a copy to the chief minister. He said if police had traced the complainant and produced Bharathi before him, the case would have been closed in 2019 itself.
Speaking to TNIE, Bharathi, however, said police personnel have families of their own and that she does not propose to demand any action against them. “In what way will I benefit from going after them?” she said.
When contacted, local cops said that when the special drive was announced in 2019, new officers had taken up the case after two decades after the maid’s arrest, in 1998. Since the name that the accused provided and Bharathi Amma’s house (Madathil) were one and the same, officers proceeded to her home to arrest her. But she was allowed to present herself in court the next day. We will send a report explaining our position to our higher-ups, an officer said.