Can a police station remain locked? This strange and unprecedented incident occurred in Muthandikuppam in Panruti block on Monday. The station located in a sensitive pocket remained out of bounds for outsiders with the lone policewoman on duty locking the main gate from inside citing security reasons.
Sources said the station, which has jurisdiction over Muthandikuppam, Vallam and other sensitive areas, had been without a head for several months.
The police inspector of Kadampuliyur station is in charge of Muthandikuppam station.
A number of complainants, who visited the station on Monday, were surprised to find the main gate locked from inside and returned disappointed. A policeman attached to the station said, on condition of anonymity, that the station had been locked for security reasons.
Anantharaman, 35, of Sorathankuzhi near Panruti, had set himself ablaze in front of the police station on January 9 accusing the police of being partisan while investigating a case.
The victim was rushed to the Cuddalore Government General Hospital and later he was referred to Chennai where he died on Monday. Irate relatives of the victim resorted to a road roko at the neighbouring Vallam village protesting against his death.
The policemen attached to the station had left for Vallam to maintain law and order.
The sub-inspector attached to the station had left the station on an assignment to monitor the written examinations for recruitment of police sub-inspectors.
The police personnel were apprehensive that the road roko protesters might barge into the station and therefore decided to keep the gates locked, he said. The woman constable was reportedly unable to respond to complainants.
However, Superintendent of Police M. Sree Abhinav said that the policewoman posted at the station was on sentry duty on Monday. The constable would have thought it better to lock the main gate more as a precautionary measure and she was attending to everybody. There was a need for maximum number of personnel at Vallam till the reinforcements arrived and hence all the station personnel had left for the protest venue.
Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the State’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050
