India

Kochi, Dec 16 (IANS) With 10 FIRs registered by the Kerala Police against Keralites who left Kuwait after availing bank loans, the Union Home Ministry has taken this case seriously and is in touch with the cops.

Around 1,425 Keralites, including 700 nurses, left Kuwait and settled in other countries and the total outstanding loans that have not been repaid are to the tune of Rs 700 crore.

A team of Union Home Ministry officials have already got in touch with the Kerala Police as this issue is being seen by the Indian authorities as a grave matter as it involves cheating a popular Kuwait bank.

The Home Ministry officials have sought details of the cases that have been registered by the Kerala Police and they will be soon getting in touch with the Kuwait bank to get the entire list of loan defaulters.

Incidentally, last month Kuwaiti national Muhammad Abdul Vassey Kamran a top official of the Gulf Bank, Kuwait, located at Al-Qibla, Mubarak-Al Kabeer Street, Safat, Kuwait, arrived in Kerala and met the state police chief.

Based on his complaint soon the Kerala Police registered 10 FIRs and a probe has already begun.

What has irked the Kuwaiti bank is that many who availed loans, especially nurses most of whom worked with the Kuwaiti Health Department, have already left Kuwait for countries like the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

The Kerala Police also has decided to take up the case seriously and entrusted it to an Inspector General of Police-rank official and he has constituted a team for the probe.

The scam surfaced when the Kuwaiti bank authorities found that there had been defaults in loan repayments, and on further perusal, it came to light that many of those who availed of these loans ranging from Rs 50 lakh to more than Rs 1 crore, left Kuwait for other countries and for India.

Another thing that has come to light is that the defaulters in the past had won the confidence of the bank by paying their earlier availed loans without any default.

With the Kerala Police and the Union Home Ministry also viewing this seriously, stringent steps will be taken, if the defaulters fail to repay.

The extreme step of cancelling the nursing licences of defaulters healthcare workers is also being planned.

--IANS

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Bengaluru, Dec 16 (IANS) Prime accused in the sensational Atul Subhash suicide case Nikita Singhania changed her location every day to avoid arrest and tried to obtain bail in the case, said police sources on Monday.

Three accused in Atul Subhash's suicide case -- his wife, her mother and brother -- who were arrested by Bengaluru Police, were sent to 14-day judicial custody on Sunday.

Atul Subhash’s wife Nikita Singhania was arrested from Haryana’s Gurugram and her mother Nisha Singhania and brother Anurag Singhania were nabbed in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.

Police sources, while giving details about the arrest of the accused, stated that the special teams which went to Uttar Pradesh had found that the accused had locked their houses and left after getting the news of the arrival of Karnataka Police teams. The police had pasted notices on the walls of their residences asking them to appear before the police within three days.

The special team gathered information about the accused and listed out the close relatives and friends suspected to be in touch with them. They were also monitored. As the accused made calls only on WhatsApp, it was difficult to track them.

However, Nikita Singhania, made one phone call mistakenly to one of her close relatives. Based on the tower location the police went to Gurugram in Haryana and found that she was hiding in a PG accommodation in the Rail Vihar area. She was detained by the police in the city.

The police grilled Nitika and got her to make a phone call to her mother Nisha Singhania and brother Anurag Singhania. After tracking their location, the police picked them up from Jhunsi town in Uttar Pradesh.

The accused were questioned later for nine hours during the transit time to Bengaluru and ensured that the 2-year-old baby boy was in the safe custody of one of her relatives. The police recorded the statements of the accused persons before presenting them to the judge.

The police can take custody of the accused persons on a body warrant if their investigation is required. On the other hand, the family of Nikita is preparing to file a bail plea in the court.

Nikita Singhania has claimed that she never harassed Atul Subhash and she was living away from him for three years. Meanwhile, the family of Atul Subhash is claiming custody of Atul and Nikita’s 2-year-old male baby. Bikas Kumar, brother of deceased Subhash has claimed that the family wanted to see the baby.

The accused persons were produced before the court and were sent to judicial custody for 14 days. After nabbing the accused persons, the Karnataka Police brought them to Bengaluru on Saturday late at night.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that Atul Subhash had planned to commit suicide 15 days before taking the extreme step. He had written the death note three days ago and searched legal matters on Google.

The police registered an FIR against the accused persons under Sections 108, 3 (5) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) on December 9. Bikas Kumar had lodged a police complaint alleging abetment to suicide with the Marathahalli police in Bengaluru.

The FIR was lodged against Subhash’s wife Nikita Singhania, mother-in-law Nisha Singhania, brother-in-law Anurag Singhania and relative Sushil Singhania. The police are yet to arrest the fourth accused, Sushil, in the case.

Bikas Kumar alleged in the complaint that false cases were lodged against his brother by the accused and had demanded Rs 3 crore to settle the case. He had also alleged that his brother was taunted in the court during the proceedings that he had to either give Rs 3 crore or commit suicide.

Nikita’s family had alleged that the deceased Subhash demanded a hefty dowry from her family which resulted in the death of her father.

Subhash, who was working with an automobile company in Bengaluru, allegedly committed suicide as a demand of Rs 3 crore was made for a divorce settlement. He ended his life at his apartment in the early hours of December 9, leaving behind a 90-minute video and a 40-page death note, explaining how harassment by his wife Nikita Singhania and her family compelled him to take the extreme step.

The note left by him read: "If the court decides that the corrupt judge and my wife and other harassers are not guilty, then pour my ashes into some gutter outside the court. Don't do my 'asthi visarjan' till my harassers get punished." However, the family collected the 'asthis' from the Bengaluru crematorium where Subhash’s final rites were conducted. The family stated that the ashes would be taken to Patna, from where the family originally hails from and it will be immersed into the river as per the traditions.

The suicide note, under the headline "Justice is Due", addressed to his 2-year-old child, read: "Now with me gone, there will not be any money to loot and I hope that they might start to look at the facts of the cases. Someday, you shall know the real face of your mother and her greedy family.

"I pray that they don’t devour you and your soul. I often laugh when I remember that I started saving money for a car when you go to college. Silly me. Remember this always that you don't owe anything to anyone. Don’t trust the system." Subhash further listed out his last wishes in the note. "All my case hearings should happen live and people of this country should know about my case and learn the terrible state of the legal system and misuse of law these women are doing."

He also requested to allow the suicide note and videos as his statement and evidence.

"I fear that the judge might tamper with the documents, put pressure on witnesses and can adversely affect other cases. Based on my experience, the Bengaluru courts are relatively more law-abiding than Uttar Pradesh courts. I request to run the cases in Karnataka in the interest of justice and keep her in the judicial and police custody in Bengaluru till the trial goes on," the note read.

He further wrote: "Give the custody of my child to my parents who can raise him with better values. Don’t let my wife or her family come near my dead body. Give maximum punishment to my harassers though I don’t trust our legal system too much. If people like my wife are not put behind jail, they would be more emboldened and will put more false cases on other sons of society in the future.

"To wake up the judiciary and urge them to stop harassment of my parents and my brother in false cases. There shall be no negotiations, settlements and mediation with these evil people and the culprits must be punished," the letter read.

--IANS

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Hyderabad, Dec 16 (IANS) Severe cold wave conditions prevailed in parts of Telangana with minimum temperature dropping sharply in some districts including Greater Hyderabad on Monday.

The average minimum temperature in the state was 11.2 degrees Celsius, 5.5 degrees below normal.

According to the Telangana Development Planning Society (TGDPS), 27 of 33 districts recorded a minimum temperature below 10 degrees. Adilabad was coldest with an average temperature of 7.9 degrees, which is 6.7 degrees below normal. Bheempoor in Adilabad was the coldest place in the state with a minimum temperature of 6 degrees. It was 6.3 degrees in Bela in the same district.

Zahirabad in Sangareddy recorded a minimum temperature of 6.6 degrees while it was 6.7 in Bantwaram in Vikarabad district. Ibrahimpatnam in Rangareddy district near Hyderabad and Sirpur in Komaram Bheem Asifabad also recorded 6.7 degrees.

Siddipet, Kamareddy, Nirmal, Medak, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Jagtial, Rajanna Sircilla, Nizamabad, Mancherial, Hanumakonda, Mulugu, Warangal, Peddapalli, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Mahabubnagar, Yadadri Bhuvanagiri, Narayanpet, Karimnagar, Nagarkurnool, Hyderabad, Jangaon and Mahabubabad districts also recorded minimum temperature of below 10 degree Celsius.

Several parts of Greater Hyderabad were also in the grip of severe cold wave conditions. Moulali and HCU areas recorded the lowest temperature of 7.1 degrees. It was 7.4 in BHEL and 8.2 in Rajendranagar. Gachibowli also witnessed winter chill with mercury plummeting to 9.3 degrees.

West Marredpally recorded a minimum temperature of 9.9 degrees. Most of the areas recorded minimum temperatures between 10 and 14 degrees.

Meteorologists at the Telangana Development Planning Society (TGDPS) said the Hyderabad district recorded an average temperature of 14.9 degrees, which is four degrees below the normal temperature. Roads in parts of the affected districts had a deserted look since evening. The vehicular traffic was thin in the morning, with people remaining indoors till 9-10 a.m. School-going children and people going to workplaces faced hardships. In many places, people lit bonfires to beat the winter chill.

The health department has already advised people to take necessary precautions. A general health advisory to safeguard against seasonal flu has also been issued. With IMD forecasting a drop in low temperatures, the health authorities warned that this may lead to the spread of acute respiratory infections such as seasonal flu/influenza.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS) The Supreme Court has disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking directions to public and private sector oil companies to divert part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds towards improving public transport services in Delhi and other polluted cities.

However, a Bench headed by Justice B.V. Nagarathna granted liberty to the PIL litigant to make appropriate representation or endeavour to bring the issue to the notice of the authorities concerned, including the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA).

“It is needless to observe that if such a representation is made by the petitioner herein, the same shall be considered in accordance with law,” ordered the Bench, also comprising Justice N. Kotiswar Singh.

The PIL, filed by Tsunami On Roads, an NGO, said that in order to reduce health hazards due to severe air pollution in Delhi and other most polluted cities, oil companies should be directed to contribute towards public transport services to compensate for environmental damage occurring due to burning of fossil fuels.

Further, it sought directions to the EPCA to supervise and make guidelines regarding appropriate use of the CSR for betterment of the public transport system of selected heavily polluted cities.

The petition also sought directions to the EPCA to utilise part of CESS lying with the CPCB [collected under heads; environment protection charges (EPC) and environmental compensation (EC)] for improving public transport also besides other environment protection activities.

To control air pollution, the PIL said that it is a universally accepted fact that the public transport system is the most important and cost-effective means for reducing dirty air and traffic congestion.

“Even in the most developed countries, instead of more and more roads and flyovers, they are giving more stress to alternative plans in terms of mass transport. In a developing country like India it may not always be possible for the government to provide adequate subsidy or financial help to the transport sector, so in that case public transport may be helped through CSR,” it said.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS) The BJP on Monday raised questions on the 'censorship' of some letters written by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to some leading world dignitaries. This comes after the Prime Minister's Museum and Library (PMML) wrote to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to return the collection of historical letters belonging to Nehru.

These letters were removed from public access in 2008 on Sonia Gandhi's request, who was the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). The papers have since been stored privately.

Amit Malviya, in-charge of BJP's National Information & Technology Dept. Co-incharge West Bengal, took to social media on the issue.

He posted on X on Monday that Sonia Gandhi allegedly took away cartons of letters written by Jawaharlal Nehru. "From what is now the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library (formerly the Nehru Museum and Library), it is reported that the then UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, allegedly took away 51 cartons of letters written by Jawaharlal Nehru to various personalities, including Edwina Mountbatten."

He further wrote, "In a recent AGM of the PMML, a member, Shri Rizwan Kadri, wrote to the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, urging him to help retrieve these letters from his mother, Sonia Gandhi."

Malviya raised questions about Sonia Gandhi's move to keep the letters with her. "What I find particularly intriguing is: what might Nehru ji have written to Edwina Mountbatten that warranted such censorship? And will Rahul Gandhi act to recover these letters?"

Meanwhile, it is being reported that the collection was transferred to the PMML (formerly the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library) in 1971 by the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund. It comprises 51 boxes containing personal correspondences of PM Nehru with some of the 20th century's most prominent figures. Among them are letters to Albert Einstein, Jayaprakash Narayan, Edwina Mountbatten, Padmaja Naidu, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Aruna Asaf Ali, and Babu Jagjivan Ram.

"We understand that these documents may hold personal significance for the Nehru family. However, the PMML believes that making these historical materials, more widely accessible would greatly benefit scholars and researchers. We would be grateful for your collaboration in exploring possible solutions," the PMML's letter reads.

The letter to Rahul Gandhi follows an earlier correspondence to Sonia Gandhi in September 2024. She was requested to return the documents for digitisation. "In September 2024, I wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi requesting that the 51 cartoons from approximately eight different sections, which were part of the Nehru collections at the Prime Ministers' Museum (formerly the Nehru Memorial), be either returned to the institution, or we be granted permission to scan them, or provided with their scanned copies. This would allow us to study them and facilitate research by various scholars," said Rizwan Kadri, historian and author.

Rizwan Kadri is among the 29 members of the PMML Society, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who initiated the debate on the Constitution in Rajya Sabha on Monday, launched a sharp attack on Congress, accusing the party of amending the Constitution repeatedly to restrict civil liberties and for their gains.

“In the last seven decades, this living document, our Constitution, has seen many amendments,” she said, alleging that the first amendment under Nehru’s interim government "curbed the freedom of speech".

Giving details about the First Amendment, Sitharaman said, "...The Supreme Court in 1950 had ruled in favour of the Communist magazine "Cross Roads" and the RSS organisational magazine "Organizer". But in response, the (then) interim government thought that there was a need for a first Constitutional amendment and that was brought in by the Indian National Congress (INC) and it was essentially to curb the freedom. So India, a democratic country which prides itself even today on freedom of expression saw the first interim government coming up with a Constitutional amendment which was to curb the freedom of speech of Indians and that within one year of adoption of the Constitution..."

"This First Amendment was done to harm the press and it is still affecting the freedom of media. This amendment was done by PM Nehru despite MPs being against it," she said.

She said a critical evaluation of amendments based on four criteria: whether they were genuine, their outcomes for the people, the processes adopted, and adherence to the Constitution’s spirit, was required.

"The first Prime Minister of this country scrutinized the amending bill himself before its approval in Parliament. However, the debate in Parliament was far from smooth. Shri Syama Prasad Mukherjee remarked: 'You can pass a law and claim to frame and form the Constitution, but now you are treating this Constitution as mere paper. You trusted the people of this country to write it, and now you come forward and stab them in the back.' Kameshwar Singh, a member of the Constituent Assembly, also expressed disagreement, stating: 'It is highly improper to make such changes to the Constitution.' These actions showed an utter disregard for the Constitution, bypassing the judiciary," she said.

"Those who are working on amending the Constitution, if they are good people outcome will be good, if they are bad people outcome will be bad," said the Union Minister.

"Today, we hear comments from the Congress party on the judicial system, but they themselves went to great lengths in the past to undermine it. For instance, to nullify judgments, they introduced amendments. In the case of Indira Gandhi vs. Raj Narain, during the Emergency in 1975, a biography of Nehru was banned, and the film 'Kissa Kursi Ka' was also banned just because it questioned Indira Gandhi and raised critical issues...That's the extent they went to bypass judicial scrutiny. Congress speaks about protecting rights and also the judicial system...how?"

The Finance Minister while lauding the Consitution and the people of India said, " As we mark 75 years of the Constitution, it is time, I think, to reaffirm our commitment to building India, that is Bharat, which upholds the spirit and shines through this sacred document."

"...Post Second World War, over 50 countries had become independent and had their Constitution written. But many have changed their Constitutions, not just amended them but literally changed the entire feature of their Constitution. But our Constitution has stood the test of time, of course, yielded itself to very many amendments..."

--IANS

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Kolkata, Dec 16 (IANS) Four members of a family, including two children, have been killed in a tragic road accident in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district, officials said here on Monday.

The accident took place late on Sunday night following which the four persons were shifted to a local hospital. However, all attempts by the doctors to treat them ultimately failed and on Monday morning all four of them were declared dead.

The two deceased have been identified as Sanjit Roy and his wife Bipasha Sarkar Roy. Their son Ivan Roy and daughter Ishita Roy have also been killed in the road accident.

According to a district police official, the four were returning home late Sunday night in Cooch Behar district from adjacent Tufanganj in the same district after attending a marriage function.

Sanjit Roy himself was driving the car. As the car passed through the Kaljani Heritage area, Sanjit somehow lost control over the steering after which the car fell into a river on the roadside, with four of them trapped inside the vehicle.

The local people immediately rushed to the spot and made all attempts to rescue them. They even somehow managed to bring the four trapped in the car out by breaking open the glass windows of the vehicle and immediately shifted them to a local hospital.

However, local people said, by the time they were admitted to the hospital the conditions of all four of them had turned quite critical and beyond recovery.

Finally, all of them died one after another.

While Sanjit Roy was a higher secondary school teacher attached with Natabari High School, his deceased wife was a primary teacher with a state-run primary school in the same locality.

Local people said that both were highly admired and respected by the people of the area.

--IANS

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Parbhani (Maharashtra), Dec 16 (IANS) Many areas of Parbhani town and district observed a peaceful shutdown (bandh) on Monday after the alleged accused in last week’s violence -- after a statue of Dr B. R. Ambedkar was desecrated -- died under mysterious circumstances in judicial custody (JC) on Sunday, December 15.

The state-level bandh call was given by Republican Sena President Anandraj Y. Ambedkar, while his elder brother and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) President Prakash Y. Ambedkar and other Dalit parties/groups including Republican Party of India (A) President and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, Republican Party of India (K), supporting. Communist Party of India (M) leaders Ashok Dhawale and Uday Narkar have also extended support to the bandh call.

Rattled by last night’s development -- on the eve of the Maharashtra Legislature Session starting in Nagpur on Monday -- the Parbhani police said that accused-arrested Somnath Vyankat Suryavanshi, was admitted to a hospital following chest pains. However, the deceased man’s supporters and Dalit parties have pointed accusing fingers at the law enforcers claiming he succumbed to severe thrashing by the police after his arrest on December 11.

As soon as news of the death of labourer-cum-law student Suryavanshi, 35, spread, the police deployed tight security at various sensitive locations, even as the Republican Sena late on Sunday announced a peaceful sit-in protest outside Parbhani Collectorate plus a bandh on Monday.

Late last night, Prakash Y. Ambedkar demanded a proper post-mortem of the deceased in a government hospital with fully equipped departments like forensics, CT-MRI scans, pathology, etc., and the entire exercise should be video-graphed. The VBA chief on Monday said that the demand has been accepted and the autopsy report is likely to be available, and he reached Parbhani, to assess the situation, with a motto of ‘we will fight for justice’.

“The custodial death of Somnath Suryavanshi -- a Bhim Sainik belonging to the Wadar community -- in Parbhani is gut-wrenching, sickening and intolerable to say the least. What is more deplorable is that his death happened in JC despite his bail application being approved,” said a grim Prakash Ambedkar.

On December 10, an unidentified person vandalized a copy of the Constitution in the hands of Dr Ambedkar’s statue outside Parbhani Railway Station, sparking tensions that degenerated into massive violence for the next couple of days. Subsequently, the perpetrator of the act was identified as one ‘disturbed’ person named Sopan Pawar.

Later, the Parbhani Police swooped down and booked or arrested around 300 locals, mostly Dalits including Suryavanshi, who was nabbed on December 12 and died in JC barely in 72 hours.

Taking umbrage at the incident, Union Minister Athawale urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to order a thorough probe into the custodial death, dismissal of the concerned police officials, a compensation of Rs 25 lakh for Suryavanshi’s family, and withdrawal of police cases filed against all the accused in last week’s violence, and sparing those people who were not involved in the mayhem.

RPI(K) President Sachin Kharat urged the masses in Parbhani to observe a peaceful shutdown, where the situation is being personally monitored by ICP (Nanded Range) Shahaji Umap and other top police officials.

--IANS

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Jammu, Dec 16 (IANS) Two narcotics smugglers were arrested on Monday from whose possession 5.50 kg heroin was seized in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district.

“The seized quantity of heroin is worth crores in the international market. The seizure was made by police and army from the Nowshera sector during an operation to prevent the smuggling of contraband substances from across the Line of Control (LoC). The accused identified as Sahab Kumar, 25 and Subhash Chander, 36, were apprehended during a joint operation by the army and police in Sher and Kaneti forward villages late last evening,” officials said.

On Sunday, troops of the Border Security Force (BSF) recovered 495 gms of contraband substance from a drone sent into this side of the international border from Pakistan in the Arnia sector of Jammu district.

A hi-tech anti-drone system has been put in place all along the international border in J&K in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts.

IG BSF frontier Jammu told a news conference here two days back that an anti-drone system has been put in place along the international border and this has minimised the possibility of drones being used from the Pakistani side for dropping weapons, drugs and cash.

It must be mentioned that drones are used by various terrorist outfits with the assistance of the army/rangers of Pakistan guarding the international border and the LoC to drop weapons, drugs and cash into the Indian side.

These consignments are meant to be picked up by the terrorists, their over-ground workers (OGWs) and sympathisers to disturb peace in the union territory.

Terrorist activities have increased in J&K after peaceful people participative Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections. Security forces say that this has unnerved the handlers of terror sitting across the border, who have directed terrorists to give the dying terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir the last push.

--IANS

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Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 16 (IANS) A Commando attached to the Special Operation Group of the Kerala Police committed suicide by shooting himself to death, said officials here on Monday.

Vineeth, 35, unable to take work pressure after he was not given leave to be beside his pregnant wife, shot himself using his service rifle, on Sunday night at the police camp in Areecode in Malappuram district.

His death adds to the growing list of Kerala Police personnel who have committed suicide due to extreme work pressure. According to an unofficial estimate, around 90 policemen have died by suicide.

Vineeth was a Commando attached to the Special Operation Group dealing with operations to go after Maoists.

Hailing from Wayanad, he had been working non-stop for the past 45 days and despite his request for leave, the higher officials denied it.

According to those in the know of things, Vineeth was unable to bear this and took the extreme step of pulling the trigger on his body.

Soon after the incident, he was rushed to a nearby hospital but his life could not be saved.

Over the years the biggest problem facing the Kerala Police Force, regarded as one of the best in the country, is the shortage of policemen resulting in an increased workload on the existing members.

In the past five years, there have been several cases of policemen not being able to bear the work-related tension and committing suicide.

The higher-ups in the Kerala Police and the Home Department have now started counselling sessions for the policemen and by now 6,000 have been counselled.

Incidentally, unlike other jobs, the eight-hour duty structure for all in the police force has not been introduced for various reasons. Even Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, also the Home Minister admitted in the Kerala Legislative Assembly that they have been able to introduce the eight-hour duty roster only in 52 police stations.

At present there is a shortage of around 14,000 police. Many of them have to stay back for late hours as the presence of women police officials is a requirement when there is a case involving a female.

The authorities are also under duress as additional funds are required and for a while now the state has been under a deep financial crunch, even when the policing needs in the modern age have gone up dramatically.

--IANS

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