Kerala cop accuses superior’s daughter of ill-treatment

Constable says top officer’s daughter verbally abused and beat him

Kerala’s police force, which has been facing flak over the past few months over various charges including custodial brutality and apathy towards complaints, is now facing complaints from one of its own.

A constable attached to the service team of the Additional Director-General of Police (ADGP), Sudheesh Kumar, has been admitted to hospital after he was allegedly beaten up by Kumar’s daughter, Snigdha Lakshmi.

In a curious turn of events thereafter, the constable, identified as Gavaskar, has been slapped with charges based on a complaint filed by Lakshmi.

Gavaskar said he had chauffeured Lakshmi and her mother to the Museum Ground in the state capital on Wednesday morning, and that while driving them back, Lakshmi had let out a volley of verbal abuse at him. When he refused to drive any further until she stopped abusing him, the ADGP’s daughter allegedly hit him on the head and neck with her mobile phone, causing him injury.

He was admitted to the Peroorkada government hospital, from where he was referred to the Medical College for a spinal cord scan.

Meanwhile, Gavaskar faced charges that he had grabbed Lakshmi’s hand and that he spoke to her in a derogatory manner.

Speaking to media persons yesterday, Gavaskar alleged he was literally being treated like a slave at the ADGP’s home, even being asked to bathe the family’s dog, and that the officer’s wife and daughter would verbally abuse those who refused to do such work. He alleged that he was once threatened at gunpoint, and that he was also abused based on the caste he belonged to.

Gavaskar said he was not worried about the ADGP slapping charges against him, because the cameras on the road where the incident happened would clearly show what transpired, and whether he had in any way behaved badly with the officer’s daughter.

He said he decided to file a complaint against Lakshmi so that other policemen would not have to face a similar predicament in future.

Scores of people took to social media to comment about the incident, many of them calling for stringent action against the ADGP. One of them pointed out that the situation was such that senior police officers in the state were torturing their subordinates, and in turn policemen were doing the same to citizens.