Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Stern action to prevent attack on women: Chandy

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said the government views the attack on a woman IT professional in Kochi seriously and will do the needful to prevent such attacks in future.

Talking to the presspersons after a meeting of the Cabinet here on Wednesday, the Chief Minister said the police had promptly reached the spot when an IT professional was manhandled in Kochi a few days ago. However, there was delay in taking action against the accused as the victim chose to file her complaint only a day after the incident.

He had asked the Director-General of Police to take action if there was any lapse on the part of the police officer who went to the scene to register the case. Action would be taken to prevent recurrence of such incidents, he said.

Replying to questions, Mr. Chandy said the government viewed the presence of criminals in the police force seriously. However, the whole force could not be blamed. There were criminal elements in the police force as in other professions.

He emphasised that the government would not allow lottery operators to plunder the people by selling lotteries from other States. “Such swindle will not be allowed even for a day when the UDF government is in power,” he said. The government was not averse to expanding the scope of CBI inquiry sought by the State government. Only 32 cases were referred to the CBI as the previous government headed by V.S. Achuthanandan had registered only 32 first information reports in five years.

While the previous government could not do anything to ensure a CBI inquiry, he had acted promptly on receipt of communication from the Centre seeking notification entrusting the cases to the CBI. He did not lose time arguing whether such a notification was actually required, but issued it in three days.

He had sent letters to both Mr. Achuthanandan and Congress leader V.D. Satheesan, who had filed the case seeking CBI inquiry, asking for their suggestions on further action. If notification of additional cases were required, that would be done taking their views into account. The only rider was that any further action should not affect the CBI probe or help the accused to escape.

The Chief Minister said there was no reason for apprehension that the sanctioning of new CBSE and ICSE schools would hit government schools. The schools would not be permitted to be started in unrestrained manner. The norms fixed by the CBSE and ICSE would be strictly followed. The number of applications received for new schools was less than 200. The government proposed to strengthen and protect the general education sector.

Mr. Chandy reiterated that the government had clear policy on admissions and fee structure in self-financing colleges based on social equity. Talks to ensure that would begin after this year's admissions.

The previous government had failed to settle the issues over the past five years. The present government lacked time to bring about a comprehensive settlement for admissions this year.

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