IPS officers in Gujarat unite to back Sanjiv Bhatt
Ajay Umat, TNN | Oct 9, 2011, 01.04AM IST
AHMEDABAD: It was a scene straight out of recent Bollywood flick Singham, where cops forget internal differences and unite to fight for justice. In a development that has rattled the ruling political brass, top cops threw their weight behind jailed IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt. The Gujarat IPS Officers' Association convened an emergency meeting on Saturday evening to pass a resolution in support of Bhatt and his family, who they said, have been witch-hunted.
This is for the first time in the decade-long Narendra Modi regime that members of the association have taken a stand in support of a fellow officer who has challenged the state government. Senior cops like RB Sreekumar, Kuldeep Sharma, Rahul Sharma and Rajneesh Rai, all of whom have fought legal battles against the Gujarat government, were not so fortunate to garner support from their fraternity.
"This is an organized expression of discontent by the IPS fraternity which feels that an attempt has been made by senior police officers to bully a brother officer," said an officer after the meeting which was attended by 35 top officials.
The timing of the meeting coincided with wedding of the daughter of additional DG K Nityanandam, who had invited senior cops from across the state.
Senior officials cornered Ahmedabad police commissioner Sudhir Sinha for allowing victimization of Bhatt, who faces charges of coercing a constable to file a false affidavit in support of his claim that he was present at the important meeting that took place at CM residence on February 27, 2002.
"We are not going into the merits of the case," said another top cop after the meeting. "Bhatt was treated like a petty criminal and was kept in the worst cell of crime branch office. He was not allowed to meet his wife and was denied home-made food. Is this how you treat a senior policeman?" he asked.
Some officers objected to the manner in which Bhatt's house was searched by Ahmedabad police. "His wife was harassed during the search," he said.
A rattled Sinha, the senior-most officer after Director General of Police Chittaranjan Singh, could not face the wrath of fellow policemen. Both Sinha and Singh declined the proposal to take over as the president of the association.
This is for the first time in the decade-long Narendra Modi regime that members of the association have taken a stand in support of a fellow officer who has challenged the state government. Senior cops like RB Sreekumar, Kuldeep Sharma, Rahul Sharma and Rajneesh Rai, all of whom have fought legal battles against the Gujarat government, were not so fortunate to garner support from their fraternity.
"This is an organized expression of discontent by the IPS fraternity which feels that an attempt has been made by senior police officers to bully a brother officer," said an officer after the meeting which was attended by 35 top officials.
The timing of the meeting coincided with wedding of the daughter of additional DG K Nityanandam, who had invited senior cops from across the state.
Senior officials cornered Ahmedabad police commissioner Sudhir Sinha for allowing victimization of Bhatt, who faces charges of coercing a constable to file a false affidavit in support of his claim that he was present at the important meeting that took place at CM residence on February 27, 2002.
"We are not going into the merits of the case," said another top cop after the meeting. "Bhatt was treated like a petty criminal and was kept in the worst cell of crime branch office. He was not allowed to meet his wife and was denied home-made food. Is this how you treat a senior policeman?" he asked.
Some officers objected to the manner in which Bhatt's house was searched by Ahmedabad police. "His wife was harassed during the search," he said.
A rattled Sinha, the senior-most officer after Director General of Police Chittaranjan Singh, could not face the wrath of fellow policemen. Both Sinha and Singh declined the proposal to take over as the president of the association.
Three resolutions passed by Gujarat IPS association:
a) Support Bhatt's family, including legal aid
b) Give memorandum to state govt to appoint full-time DGP
c) Addl DG Deepak Swaroop chosen new president
a) Support Bhatt's family, including legal aid
b) Give memorandum to state govt to appoint full-time DGP
c) Addl DG Deepak Swaroop chosen new president
Following a stormy meet of the Gujarat IPS Officers' Association, four batch-mates of Sanjiv Bhatt and a representative of Ahmedabad police were asked to visit his house to show solidarity towards family members and assure them support. Atul Karwal, VM Parghi, Praveen Sinha and RS Yadav along with M M Anarwala went to Bhatt's house on Saturday evening.
0 comments:
Post a Comment