Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 25 (IANS) A family on Saturday started a day long sit-in in front of the Kerala Secretariat protesting inaction against a woman police officer attached to the pink patrol unit, who publicly shamed a father and his eight-year-old daughter accusing them wrongly of stealing her mobile phone.

The mobile phone was later recovered from the official police vehicle, which the woman police officer was travelling in.

The incident occurred on August 27, when 38-year-old Jayachandran and his daughter were out on the main road in the outskirts here near Attingal to watch the movement of a huge trailer carrying equipments to the ISRO unit.

Suddenly Rejitha, the woman officer finding her mobile missing, jumped on Jayachandran who was standing near the police patrol vehicle and accused him of stealing her mobile. She even said that he must have passed the mobile to his eight-year-old daughter, his accomplice.

She publicly humiliate the father and the daughter and threatened to take both of them to the nearby police station. This was witnessed by a large crowd.

Later, Rejitha found out the mobile phone in the vehicle. The entire incident was captured in a video by an onlooker.
He shared it on social media and it went viral.

On August 31, Jayachandran approached the State Police chief Anil Kant seeking action against Rejitha, as his daughter was in a state of shock for being publicly admonished.

Promising action, Kant, asked South Zone IG Harshita Attaluri to conduct a probe and Rejitha was transferred.

However, it was found out that Rejitha was transferred to a more convenient location and there was actually no action taken against her.

Speaking to the media in front of the Secretariat, Jayachandran said although a probe by kant has been announced, but not a single police official have met him to find out what happened.

"We have been waiting but nothing has happened. My daughter was completely shattered and it is with great difficulty that we are trying to make her feel normal, though she is not yet fully recovered," said Jayachandran.

His wife, Rekha who is leading the day-long fast, said: "What wrong did my husband and child did to suffer this. And see, even after committing this crime, the police woman is walking free. We want strict action to be taken against her and that's why we are here to stage the protest."

--IANS sg/in