The attempt of the policemen of Palakkad South Station to arrest the person who was available and wrap up the case without bothering to find the real suspect proves that the police will not hesitate to act without any mercy. An eighty-four-year-old woman named Bhartiamma was made the accused in the case because the real accused Bharti, a 50-year-old woman, was on bail and absconding. If the police had at least tried to check the age difference between the two women, they could have saved themselves from this new humiliation that brought shame to the force itself.

The elderly woman named Bhartiamma had to go to the police station and the court in a case that is almost a quarter of a century old. Police discovered the case of an accused named Bharti when the old pending cases were searched. A case was registered against her for trespassing in the house where she was working. Bharti, who was arrested and released on bail, escaped and went absconding. The police could not find her either. The address given by Bharti at the police station was that of the real Bhartiamma. She was also a distant relative of Bharatiamma. The police reached the address and arrested Bharatiamma. She tried so hard to convince the law enforcement officers of her innocence and the true facts but to no avail. The police repeated the age-old practice of framing the one they caught rather than bothering to find the real culprit. Not only did the police not show the love and respect they should have shown to the elderly, but they did not show patience to understand what she had to say or to understand her situation. Bhartiamma had to face trial in the court only because of the merciless act of the police. It was during the interrogation that the court was made aware of the mistake made by the police. In the meantime, Bhartiamma was able to find the complainant and bring him to court and convince the court that the real accused was another Bharati. The old woman had to go pay multiple visits to the court regarding the case for four years.

The police are trying to make light of the matter by saying that the real accused Bharti getting released on bail, after giving the address of her distant relative Bhartiamma, is what caused all the confusion. The policemen involved in this issue should not be allowed to escape under any circumstances. The Home Department, which guarantees special protection to senior citizens, must take exemplary action against those responsible for the incident. Entrapment of innocent people by using the similarity of name and address is not investigative prowess but roguery. It is a regular practice of the police to torture innocent people and make them confess to the crime. Police showed more cruelty to the old woman in the Palakkad incident. If the police had been willing to check at least one of the evidences put forward by Bharatiamma to convince them that she was not the person they were looking for, she would not have had to bear the burden of litigation for four years on account of an incident that she did not even know about. The only way to prevent a repetition of such incidents is to ensure that the policemen involved are given the punishment they deserve. Bhartiamma is also entitled to get compensation for being unnecessarily trapped in the case.