Two cases of sexual assaults on minor girls in Kerala as Kerala Police’s conduct is questioned.

Moideen Kutty, a Businessman from Kerala’s Malappuram district in Kerala, who campaigned for the Kathua rape victim, has been arrested for sexually abusing a minor girl inside a cinema hall in Malappuram’s Edappal locality. His heinous crime was caught on CCTV camera. The sixty-year-old Moideen Kutty can be seen in the video sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl. The police did not react immediately to the complaint filed by the Child Helpline workers on 26th April. It was only after a local Malayalam news channel broke the news along with CCTV visuals on 12th May, only then the police reacted. Now the culprit, Moideen Kutty, has been booked under IPC section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and under section 6 and 7 of POCSO Act (sexual assault, aggravated penetrative sexual assault). The most shocking thing about this horrifying incident is that all this happened in the presence of the girl’s mother. According to the police, minor girl’s mother was aware of her daughter being sexually abused by a 60-year-old Moideen Kutty. Minor girl’s 35-year-old mother have been booked under the section 364 (A) of IPC, along with relevant sections of POCSO and Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act. According to the Police, the culprit and the minor’s mother were in a relationship. Police are inquiring whether the girl has been sexually abused in the past as well. The girl has been shifted to a Nirbhaya Home.  State police have attracted lots of criticism and condemnation for their laxity and delay in taking quick action. As per the news reports, a case under  POCSO can be registered against the Sub Inspector of Police K.G. Baby for not acting immediately to the complaint filed by Child Line.

In another incident reported from Kannur district of Kerala, an attempt was made to kidnap a seven-year-old nomad girl and to sexually abuse her. P.C. Babyraj, the culprit, closed the mouth of the girl with his hand and attempted to carry her and run away. But the screams and the loud cry of the girl woke the parents. They struggled to rescue their daughter and finally succeeded. The culprit suffered a head injury during the the fight. Reports suggest that the police came after the phone call from the parents. However, the conduct of the police was less than helpful, according to the parents of the girl. The Police took the culprit to the hospital for the treatment and left the hospital without filing any case against the culprit under POCSO. After the treatment, the culprit left the hospital. He offered a check of Rs. 50,000 to minor’s parents for not disclosing the matter to others.

These two incidents show the corrupt mindset of the Kerala Police. They are less interested in solving people’s problem and more interested in shielding the criminals affiliated to influential political parties of Kerala. They don’t work for the people but rather they work for the happiness of the ruling party. Many Kerala Police officers have political and ideological affiliations and also attend political conferences and meetings of their affiliated political parties. Some Keralites took to twitter to express their anger about the state of Police in Kerala.

Interestingly, in this entire case, writers, self-proclaimed intellectuals, artists and self-declared guardians of the society kept mum. Placards and candle marches are also missing.  Their stoic silence on the crimes happening in the non-BJP ruling state shows their hypocrisy and it also shows that they are not concerned about ensuring justice to any victim, they are only interested to serve the interest of a particular political party and ideology.