Even repeated directions of Chief Minister E K Nayanar, who also holds the Home portfolio, seem to have failed to bring about the desired changes in the police functioning. His ten-point guidelines on making the police more people-friendly, though dispatched to all the police stations, are yet to give results.

Though the police top brass has termed the Alappuzha incident as ``isolated,'' the brutal manner in which 60-year-old Kunju was tortured in front of his family members, brings home memories of the notoriety of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh police.

The recent incidents involving police include the death of a youth at Balaramapuram, who was picked up by the police for interrogation. In the Fort Police Station limits in the city, a Dalit youth, who was allegedly chased by a police party, jumped into a river and was drowned.

``No lock-up deaths have been reported in Kerala in the last three years. There have been deaths in custody owing to medical reasons,'' said a senior police officer. According to police, seven died in custody in 1996, three in 1997, and four in 1998.

Inquiries made by The Indian Express revealed that most of the guidelines were being violated by the police personnel in police stations. Though the Supreme Court had included all persons ``taken into custody,'' none of the Supreme Court directives seems to hold good for persons picked up for questioning. Their names are never displayed on boards not to speak of the compliance with other guidelines stipulated by the court for them.

The constitution of legal aid boards as directed by the Supreme Court is yet to materialise in many places. The directions on sending information on the person arrested to his/her relatives or friends by telegraph, in the event of them residing in distant places, was seldom complied with. The Supreme Court had stipulated this to ensure the involvement of another agency in the dissemination of such information.

It is learnt that the Supreme Court had sought a report from the State police a couple of months ago on the compliance with its guidelines. The apex court has been seeking such reports from other States as well. The Supreme Court guidelines had stated that ``the time, place of arrest and venue of custody of the arrested and detained person should be noted by the police.'' The special memo forms for this purpose are yet to be printed by the Government.

In the event of the relatives of the arrested person living outside, the police had been asked to convey the message through legal aid organisations (not existing in many places) within 8 to 12 hours of the arrest. As per the Supreme Court guidelines, the person arrested must be made aware of his right immediately after his arrest or detention. On the top of all these, the police stations don't even put up the list of arrested and detained persons on the notice boards.