Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has revealed that a question raised by actor and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay led to the decision to appoint women as Station House Officers (SHOs) in 63 police stations across Kerala.

Chennithala made the revelation while speaking about his meeting with Vijay in an interview with Club FM.

Chennithala met Vijay in Chennai in July. Vijay had extended his support to the Home Department’s ‘Operation D-Hunt’. He had also accepted Chennithala’s invitation to attend an anti-drug awareness programme being held in Kochi as part of the initiative.

Asked about the meeting, Chennithala said Vijay’s question had inspired the “historic decision”.

“First, we took a photograph and then spoke for about half an hour. Senior officials from Tamil Nadu were also part of the discussion. One thing he said was behind the decision to appoint 63 women SHOs. In Tamil Nadu, women serve as SHOs in many places. He asked me how many women SHOs there were in Kerala. I told him there were none. Keeping what he said in mind, we have now appointed 63 women SHOs,” Chennithala said.