PALAKKAD: The Superintendent of Police Palakkad is learnt to have issued a show-cause notice to the Alathur Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) R Manoj Kumar over a controversial WhatsApp status criticising President Draupadi Murmu’s visit to the Sabarimala temple on Wednesday.
The Palakkad Superintendent of Police has asked for a detailed explanation from the DySP, warning that if the explanation is found to be unsatisfactory, departmental action will follow.
According to reports, in the late hours of Wednesday, DySP Manoj Kumar posted a WhatsApp status alleging that President Murmu’s Sabarimala pilgrimage involved a breach of ritual protocol and that “High Court directions were flouted”.
The post, which reportedly appeared while the officer was travelling by train, was deleted about 20 minutes later. The DySP later clarified to the media and his higher officials that the post appeared on his WhatsApp status inadvertently while he was travelling by train, after he received the message from another contact, and that it was deleted soon after he noticed it.
The Palakkad police sources said the department will examine the content of the status and the circumstances under which it was posted. The internal notice emphasises the expectation that serving police officers maintain neutrality, dignity and confidentiality in their public communications.
Meanwhile, political reaction has already kicked in. The local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Alathur has announced a march to the DySP’s Alathur office at 11 am on Thursday to protest the WhatsApp post. The BJP asserts that the status was disrespectful to the President of India and demanded immediate departmental action.
At the same time, BJP leaders across the country, including MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar, have been praising the President’s visit to the hill shrine on social media. “She is 67 years old. She has not broken a law, nor hurt any faith — she has only honoured it. In doing so, she becomes the first President to climb the 18 steps and bow to Ayyappa.” – Kumar wrote on X.
President Murmu’s pilgrimage to Sabarimala on Oct 22 was widely covered as being of historic import—she became the first woman President of India to offer prayers at the shrine.
