Phone tapping case: Police hesitant to file case against MLA Anvar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The hesitance from police to register a case against MLA PV Anvar, despite the latter admitting to tapping the phone of senior police officials ignited a new political debate in Kerala.

Anvar had earlier said that he would face the punishment for tapping the phone calls. However, the investigation team assessed that Anvar apart from recording the phone call, didn’t do anything devious.

At the same time, there is concern that the phone-tapping system used by police has been misused. The police also fear the chances of secret phone-tapping information coming out if proceed with this investigation. Illegal phone tapping is a crime punishable by 5 years in prison.

The Governor had written to the Chief Minister to initiate action into Anvar’s claims of his phone getting hacked. The chief minister in press conference said that the investigation team will look into the matter. However, the phone tapping charges don’t come under the limit of the DGP-led investigation.

Phones of those related to sedition and counterfeiting cases can be hacked legally. For this, there is a high-level committee comprising the Chief Secretary and Law and Public Administration Secretaries to check the granting of permission. After explaining the reason, the IG can seek the Home Secretary's permission. The permission will be for two months.

Then it can be extended by one month. Every month, the police give more than 100 applications for hacking but not even 10 are allowed. In case of emergency, the phone can be hacked for seven days without prior permission. Phones of less than 100 names are regularly hacked with the Home Secretary's permission.