Thiruvananthapuram: As the current PSC rank list for the appointment of women civil police officers is set to expire on Saturday, protesters in front of the Secretariat are a worried lot. “What wrong have we done to the state government?” one of them asked tearfully. 

The protest over non-appointments entered its 16th day on Thursday, with the candidates staging a symbolic protest by placing wreaths on their bodies. Over the days, they have protested in various ways—circumambulating, standing on salt crystals, drawing blood to prepare posters—yet the government remains firm in its stand: there are no vacancies to fill.

The protest is being held by those on the rank list of 967 candidates, which came into effect on April 24, 2024. So far, 292 have been appointed from this list.

While the government maintains that there are no more vacancies, the protesters claim otherwise. According to them, there are 570 vacancies as per the data they say they collected through RTI applications filed at police stations across the state.

Protesters argue that when 570 personnel are transferred from camps to stations, an equal number of vacancies arise in the camps. They had hoped to be appointed to fill those roles. 

However, they allege that officers currently serving in camps are being made to continue under working arrangements without formal transfers to stations, effectively blocking those vacancies. Despite this, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan recently reiterated that there are no current vacancies.

The PSC is set to publish a new rank list next week, following the expiration of the existing list. If there are truly no vacancies, why is a new list being prepared at all, ask the protesters.