Janamaithri Suraksha Project - Kerala Police

Marad Police Station (Kozhikode)
Setting up a JSP in Marad was a bold decision on the part of the Kerala Police. In January
2002 there were communal riots, followed by a second round of hostilities in May 2003. During both
encounters Muslims and Hindus died, resulting in an incendiary environment that forced many Muslims
to flee the area. When people returned to their homes, the District Collector converted a school into
a camp for the displaced. After staying there for eight to nine months, these people were eventually
relocated to their abandoned homes. Subsequently, relations between the two communities were
tense and they rarely spoke to each other. To ensure that violence did not break out again, the Kerala
police set up an extensive network of checkpoints in the affected areas. These checkpoints were
designed to monitor the flow of people and goods into and out of the area.
In that backdrop, a JSP was set up in August 2009 during Phase II of the community policing
project. With eight Beat Officers each responsible for at least 1,100-1,250 households, the police
in Marad had their work cut out for them in this religiously divided community. For instance, according
to CI Abdul Kader, tensions ran so high that at the inception of the JSP in Marad the community did
very little to cooperate with the police on a census that was being conducted at the time.
As a first step, the police approached the residential associations as a means to improve
relations with the community. Initially, some community members balked at the outreach. However,
with time and persistence, the police could organise joint events that involved people from both the
communities. In particular, a successful initiative was the Kerala police-facilitated training for women
of both communities to jointly learn embroidery. The first session involved 75 women and a subsequent
session had 50 women participants: This collaborative venture, involving the police and both religious
communities, started breaking down barriers and improved the space for dialogue and healing.
However, notwithstanding the recently achieved progress, it is an uphill battle to restore full
normalcy to this communally-affected area. In the immediate aftermath of the riots, 30 police
checkpoints were set up to ensure that community members and/or outsiders were not organising
further agitation or bringing in weapons. Over seven years later, 11 checkpoints still remain. While
the objective of these checkpoints is ostensibly to monitor the flow of people and goods, the fact
remains that police interventions at these pickets are perfunctory and routine. No attempt is made
to inspect passing vehicles closely; only names are checked. If the JSP’s objective is to establish
greater trust between the police and the community; these police pickets have precisely the opposite
effect. They are intrusive, an annoyance and place a constant cloud of suspicion over the populace.
This is not an effective tactic to engender greater trust. And if the objective is security, then that
also is not achieved since the rules no longer appear to be scrupulously applied. It appears that if
the police are truly sincere in forging a healthier relationship with the community that is rooted in
confidence and trust, then they should remove the remaining 11 checkpoints that only serve to
stigmatise both Hindus and Muslims in the area .. Some people have stated that the Beat Officers
deployed in Marad have been unable to forge the kind of communication and dialogue that would
permit the removal of the police pickets. If that is the case and this failure is due to overextension of
duties or lack of capacity, then efforts should be undertaken to improve the quality of their training or
to improve the quality of the Beat Officers selected to do this difficult job in Marad.
Palarivattom Police Station (Kochi)
Started on 26 March 2008; the JSP in Palarivattom currently has six Beat Officers covering
over 22,000 households. There are six two-wheelers for the Beat Officers, two scooters for the six
women Assistant Beat Officers and one collective jeep. While accompanying Beat Officers on
their patrol, it was evident that the JSP has done a very good job in reaching out to the community
and is doing its best to address the scourge of alcoholism. In exchanges with the public, they
articulated satisfaction with police performance and were happy that crime in the neighbourhood
had declined since the JSP was started. Moreover, the influence of the JSP has resulted in less
quarrelling within the community. Having the opportunity to express grievances to authoritative
figures who are sympathetic and responsive, has minimised the tendency for community members
to escalate otherwise straightforward disputes.
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