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Nayanar backs controversial IGP

Kerala Chief Minister E K Nayanar today said there was no unrest among the police in the state owing to the controversy caused by the statement of Inspector General of Police (north zone) Jacob Punnose that subordinate policemen "need not obey the illegal orders of senior officers".

Nayanar told the media after a Cabinet meeting in Trivandrum that the statement was issued with his (Nayanar's) knowledge.

He said the Padmanabhan Nair Commission, which probed the Koothuparamba police firing, had clearly stated that the police had opened fire without a proper order from the executive magistrate.

He said registering murder cases against police personnel on the basis of the findings of an inquiry was not new. On May 20, 1977, police firing took place at Ponnani in which one person was killed. Later, on the basis of an inquiry by Manjeri district judge P K Lakshmanan, a case was registered against the sub-inspector concerned.

The chief minister said the Left Democratic Front government would go ahead with the case against the police for the illegal firing at Koothuparamba in which five activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), were killed.

Asked why the director general of police had been sidelined in the matter, Nayanar said Punnose was handling the case.

UNI

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