Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government is understood to be considering stringent action against police officers accused of dereliction of duty in the honour killing of a youth from Kottayam district last month.
The police department had moved quickly to suspend the accused sub-inspector of the Gandhi Nagar police station in Kottayam, M.S. Shibu, and transfer the district superintendent of police.
However, the public anger against what is seen as a blatant failure of police in failing to save the life of a young man may prompt the government for exemplary punishment for the policemen involved.
Kevin P. Joseph, 23 who had married Neenu Chacko from Thenmala in the south of the state, was abducted on Sunday, May 27 and his wife and father had both alerted the police on Sunday morning.
Despite their pleas, it took the sub-inspector 14 hours to act on the information, and he is accused of hiding the information from senior colleagues.
Police officials in the station are also accused of accepting a bribe of Rs10,000 (Dh550) from Neenu’s family.
Shibu’s team also ignored direction from the chief minster himself the same day about investigating the abduction case.
While police dragged their feet, the abductors drove south with Joseph, and his body was found in the Chaliyekara river near Thenmala on Monday morning. The post mortem showed drowning as the cause of death, but police are verifying if Joseph was assaulted and chased into the river, leading to his death.
The ruling Communist Party of India Marxist had suffered an image setback over the honour killing, particularly because the chief minister himself holds the home portfolio. However, a massive victory in the Chengannur by-election last week has temporarily saved the face for the state government.
