Ill-treatment of advocate at police station: Kerala HC seeks explanation from DGP

Kochi: The Kerala High Court has instructed the state police chief to come up with an explanation for the incident in which a police official at the Alathur station (Palakkad ) misbehaved with an advocate.  As per the court instruction, an explanation has to be given within a time period of 10 days.

A petition in connection with the incident will be considered on January 18. According to the order issued by justice Devan Ramachandran, the superintendent has also been asked to appear at the court on that day via online.

It should be noted that a video had recently gone viral on social media in which the accused cop could be seen misbehaving with advocate Suhail who had come to the station to release a vehicle that was seized by the authorities for being part of a road accident case.

On Monday, advocate MS Dhanuja brought the issue to the notice of the single bench. The court noted that, if the cop has really offended the advocate, then the act stands in violation of a previous high court order. It also breaches the terms mentioned in a circular that was issued based on the order by the DGP, on September 10, 2021. 

The government's counsel acknowledged that the language and addresses used by the cop as could be seen in the video were not acceptable. The counsel pointed out that the complete details of the alleged incident need to be scrutinized. The DGP is currently looking into the matter.