Police indulging in criminal acts-Whose is responsible-Police leadership

POLICE TERROR
• Jairam Khora, a sarpanch of Badapadar, Malkangiri was picked up by the Orissa police and handed over to the Chhattisgarh police on 14 September. He was detained without being charged, tortured and kept in custody for eight days and then released after he was forced to sign a statement saying he accompanied contractor B.K. Lala to pay off the Maoists on behalf of Essar Steel. •On 11 May 2010, 17 Kondh adivasis from the village of Samna in Narayanpatna block, were apprehended by Greyhounds, then blindfolded, handcuffed and put on a helicopter and taken to Salur police station in Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh. There, they were interrogated, beaten and threatened not to support either the adivasi Kondh land movement or the Maoists. They were let off on 14 May, after three days in custody. •In Maharashtra, Arun Ferrera, alleged Maoist and a resident of Bandra was acquitted of all charges by the High Court. The police had accused him of a crime which took place when he was already in prison. He was acquitted of that too. Yet instead of being released, Arun Ferrera was taken out of prison by plainclothes cops, put into a car without a number plate and driven off to face more charges. He is charged in a crime where his name was never mentioned in the First Information Report.

Creative Police leadership on Job-Criminalising Police

THE CASE AGAINST POLICE FICTION
On 5 February 2011, the Delhi Sessions Court acquitted seven Kashmiris of being terrorists. It ruled that an encounter on the night of 2 July 2005 was a fake encounter and all charges against the Kashmiris were fiction. The court indicted the policemen to be charged under Section 166, Section 193 and Section 195. Excerpts from the order by Judge Virender Bhatt are worth noting:"All these four police officers have acted in advancement of their self interests in total disregard to the demands of their solemn duty. These four police officers whose duty was to protect and safeguard the citizens, have turned persecutors and tormentors.
"The aim of the investigating agency is to collect evidence and not to create it. Its aim should be to discover the truth. It is not only unethical but also illegal for an investigating agency to resort to concoction, paddling, fabrication of evidence – all serious offences under the law – even to bring a known criminal to justice."Its relevance in India is much felt as there are no defence investigators as there are in various Western countries. Hence the machinery of criminal law is often used here as a handy weapon to wreak vengeance on the enemy.'
"In India, a section of some overzealous, overambitious and scrupulous police officers is seen, who seem to think that if a person is really harmful to the society, there is no problem in creating some evidence or supplying the missing link in the evidence to secure his conviction. If fabrication of false evidence were to be justified because of a laudable motive, the worst criminal on earth would justify the worst crime on the ground of good motive."I, therefore, direct the Commissioner of Police, Delhi, to initiate appropriate enquiry against the four police officers SI Ravinder Tyagi, SI Nirakar, SI Charan Singh and SI Mahender Singh (who by now may have been promoted to the post Inspector) for the misuse and abuse of their powers as a police officer, as detailed hereinabove.
"A copy of this judgment be sent to the concerned Magistrate dealing with the cases of police station Kapasahera with directions to treat the same as a complaint against SI Ravinder Tyagi, SI Nirakar, SI Charan Singh and SI Mahender Singh of Delhi Police for offences punishable U/s.166, 193 and 195 IPC and to proceed with the same as per law."This case as of now, whose order is a rarity in itself, is under appeal.

A CASE IS PUNISHMENT ITSELF

In Maharashtra, a few days ago, Arun Ferrera, alleged Maoist and a resident of Bandra was acquitted of all charges by the High Court. The police had also accused him of a crime which took place when he was already in prison. He was acquitted of that too. Yet instead of being released, Arun Ferrera was taken out of prison by plainclothes cops, put into a car without a number plate and driven off to face more charges. He is charged in a crime where his name was never mentioned in the First Information Report.
Ironically, one of Arun Ferrera's thesis' from Nagpur Central Jail was titled, "Where Arrests Follow Acquittals", where he studied the cases of countless others in Nagpur Central Prison, especially adivasis from Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, which borders the Maoist-stronghold Abujhmarh.
Arun Ferrera's case is very similar to the case of Padma, wife of Balakrishna, resident of Ramnagar, Hyderabad. Like Ferrera, she was acquitted of all charges on 10 August 2009 by the Bilaspur High Court, Chhattisgarh. But instead of being released from Raipur's Central Jail, she disappeared.
A few days later she was booked under Sections 147, 148, 307 of the IPC, and Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act, and remanded to judicial custody. Padma, wife of Balakrishna, was now identified as Padma, wife of Rajana, a resident of Bhopalpatnam, Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh who was actually shot dead in an encounter on 15 October 2006, in the Ballampalli forest.
The Chhattisgarh police was arresting ghosts.
And yet Padma remains in jail because it is a known fact that she is the wife of Maoist Balakrishna, aka Bhasker Rao, a member of the Andhra-Orissa Border Committee. The harassment of family members of known Maoists has been standard operating procedure in counter-insurgencies.
The slow agonizing process of the judiciary becomes punishment itself. Arun Ferrera had also alleged that the police had tortured him, but the High Court found no evidence of it, and yet the wait for freedom, which is swiftly postponed as another case is slapped on the recently acquitted, is also torture.
Hope becomes the weapon of the state.

Conduct worthy of a police state

Conduct worthy of a police state
Siddharth Varadarajan
The peremptory deportation of a Nepali student from India and the unlawful detention of a tribal woman shot by the police in Chhattisgarh raise troubling questions about the power of our ‘national security’ apparatus.
The Indian Constitution and various laws framed under it grant the Indian state and its agencies enormous power to regulate the movement of persons, especially when the bogey of national security is raised. These powers include the preventive detention of citizens under one pretext or the other and, under the Foreigners Act, the summary deportation of foreign nationals, including those that have legally entered the country and have not violated the laws of the land in any way. Indian nationals who are unable to prove their citizenship to the satisfaction of the police are also subject to summary deportation, without the automatic right to be heard by a court.
Implicit in the grant of such extraordinary powers in a democracy is the understanding that the exercise of authority will be governed by reason and justice in the broadest possible sense. When these principles are jettisoned, arbitrariness and abuse of power become the norm, exposing, under the brittle veneer of democratic paint, the ugly face of a police state answerable to no one other than itself.
Nitu Singh, a young woman from Nepal, is a final year student at the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India at Pune. On the night of December 5, 2009, the city police landed up at the FTII hostel without any warrant or paperwork, took her into custody, gathered her personal effects and moved her to Mumbai, from where she was deported to Kathmandu the next day.
The only reason cited by the Pune police was that Ms. Singh had indulged in “anti-national activities”. No detail of these alleged activities was provided, no mention was made of which Indian laws she had violated and no attempt was made to substantiate the charges. The Indian Express, which broke the story, quoted Ravindra Sengaonkar, the city’s Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Branch), as saying: “Nitu Singh was deported to Nepal because she was found to be involved in anti-national activities. It was a high-level secret operation which our team completed successfully in quick time… We are not supposed to share details. The case is high-profile and various investigative agencies are involved.”
Whatever the nature of her “anti-India activities”, one thing is clear: they were not serious enough to warrant the filing of criminal charges. So why was she deported?
Nitu Singh is the wife of Amaresh Singh, a member of Nepal’s Constituent Assembly. He has also served as an interlocutor between the Nepali Congress, which is his own party, the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), and the Government of India, a process in which India’s external intelligence agency, RAW, has been deeply involved.
According to women’s activists in Pune who have taken up her case, Nitu’s deportation was engineered by her husband, from whom she had grown estranged over the past year or so. On his part, Amaresh has denied playing any role in the entire affair.
Of all the issues this deportation involves, the state of the Singh marriage need not detain us. Husbands and wives fight all the time. When global travel is involved, marital disputes can take on very complex dimensions. But what is unusual is the speed with which Nitu’s expulsion from India took place and the “national security” grounds invoked by the authorities. Despite the enormous latitude granted to the police by Section 3 (2) (c) of the Foreigners Act, foreign nationals are usually deported from India (a) if they are illegal migrants, (b) if they have overstayed their visa, (c) if they have finished serving their sentence for any crime they might have been convicted of, or (d) if their presence in the country is deemed by a minister to be prejudicial to public order. In most cases, the process of deportation is so leisurely that some of those targeted even manage to bring their case before a court, or to escape, as the three Pakistanis who relieved themselves of their police escort in Delhi did last week.
In Nitu Singh’s case, however, none of the usual grounds for deportation obtain. That is why those who took the decision to deport her chose “anti-national activities” as the reason. They gambled on the fact that the smokescreen of national security is usually a thick enough deterrent to ward off troublesome questions. While the S.P.S. Rathore case has taught us that no abuse of law or process is beyond the local constabulary, it is hard to imagine the Pune police dreaming up this deportation on their own steam. Indeed, Mr. Sengaonkar gave the game away by speaking of a “high level” operation and the involvement of other agencies. Since the Ministry of Home Affairs under P. Chidambaram has ordered a probe into this matter, one can safely assume that the “agencies” involved are not those that report to the MHA.
In a speech last month, Mr. Chidamabaram drew attention to the fact that several agencies involved in counter-terrorism report not to him but to the Cabinet Secretariat, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the National Security Advisor. Among these are RAW, the Aviation Research Centre and the National Technical Research Organisation. Could one of those agencies have been involved in the deportation? If so, who within the national security establishment decided Nitu Singh was engaging in “anti-national activities” and what evidence do they have to substantiate the charge? Was Amaresh Singh able to influence this process in any way? These are the questions the Home Minister will hopefully ask as he seeks to get to the bottom of a case that makes India look more like a banana republic than a democracy with rule of law.
If the power to expel a foreigner can be exercised so arbitrarily, this is because the power to prevent the movement of citizens within the country is subject to the same degree of caprice and contempt for the rule of law.
A young Adivasi woman named Sambho Sodi who was injured in police firing in Dantewada last year was prevented by the Chhattisgarh police from travelling to Delhi last week for medical treatment to her wounded leg. The grounds for her detention were that the police needed to record her statement about the incident in which she alleges the security forces fired upon unarmed civilians near Gompad village on October 1, 2009. The police, which claimed the Gompad shooting was part of an anti-Naxalite operation, had all the time in the world to record her statement but chose not to do so as long as she was in Dantewada. But the day she needed to travel to Delhi for treatment, they compelled her to get down from the vehicle she was travelling in and took her in for questioning, prompting her colleagues and friends to urgently move the Supreme Court.
On January 7, the Supreme Court ordered the State of Chhatisgarh “not to interfere in any manner whatsoever” with Ms. Sodi coming to Delhi for her medical treatment and to not “create any obstacle in her way”. At the time of going to press, however, activists handling her case said the police had still not cleared her departure for Delhi. Chhattisgarh has become one of India’s most notorious “no rights” zones, where state-supported vigilantes in the name of Salwa Judum and ‘Special Police Officers’ are free to attack those who are critical of the actions of the security forces. As matters stand, the Chhattisgarh government is already in violation of Supreme Court orders on the rehabilitation of Adivasis displaced by the Salwa Judum. How long the state police will prevent Ms. Sodi from travelling to Delhi remains to be seen.
In their own way, Nitu Singh and Shambho Sodi are both victims of a security establishment which operates on the penumbra of legality and whose forays to the dark side frequently remain unseen and unheard. Rare are the moments when we get to shine the light on them, rarer still the times when senior ministers undertake to right a wrong. The media and the judiciary must make the most of these opportunities.
In both the cases, I suspect, the respective state police/administration transgressed the boundaries of law.
Forget about the specific agency handling the case, it was the Maharashtra Police though; can anyone be deported out of the country without a court order? Would the knowledgeable ones comment?
I was for a while a part of the resistance to the blanket deportation drive undertaken by the Sena-BJP regime targetting "Bangladeshis" in (the then) Bombay and dispatching them off to Bangladesh across West Bengal / Bangladesh border.
Even these defenceless people, Bengali speaking poor migrant Muslims, had to be produced before a designated court. That was one of the entry points for intervention. Even in Assam, there is special tribunal, I guess.
And Neetu Singh was just wrenched off from one of the most prestigious academic institutions of the country and bundled out in an airplane!
I wonder why the activists who have admirably taken up Ms Singh's case are not approaching a law court to fix responsibilities?
Could someone comment?
Similarly, Sodi Sambo was never formally arrested. Just abducted while on her way to Raipur. And then kept barricaded from activists and journalists with ununiformed police persons!
Even the Supreme Court while mercifully passing an order directing the Chhattisgarh state administration to let her proceed to Delhi for her further medical treatment has apparently overlooked this aspect and taken a lenient view.
As a result, the state administration is delaying her release as much as possible. May even try to "persuade" her change her mind.
These are extremely disturbing pointers.
The Ruchika case has opened up a Pandora's box exposing brazen misuse of law and "power" by the high and mighty and shameful collusions at multiple levels.
Much more than any other similar case in the recent past, this one has also stirred up a public cry for "systemic" reforms.
And, mercifully, the state has taken some small but welcome steps.
There is a move, still only a move, towards compulsory registration of the FIRs with a tightened provision for penal measures in case of false or frivolous complaints. Madhya Pradesh has reportedly already implemented it. A facility for online registration of FIRs could significantly help. Himachal is expected to set an example.Initially, the relatively privileged ones would mostly benefit. But then the effects will spread, as in the case of the RTI.
There is now a provision for aggrieved complainant in a criminal case to directly go in for appeal to the higher court. That's a welcome change.
This momentum needs be further taken ahead, and must not get dissipated.
The human rights organisations must seriously apply themselves.
Sukla

Inhuman Gunmen of Indian democracy

The India's Inhuman Gunmen

By Gladson Dungdung
Jharkhandmirror.org
11 January, 2010
When the people of the entire world were greeting to each other, bursting crackers and enjoying delicious food on the occasion of the new year 2010, the police of Chhatarpur, Town and Sadar police stations of Palamu district, (which is the most Maoist infested area according to the government and the media reports) in Jharkhand, were very much engaged in humiliating, torturing and beating to Rajendra Yadav of Telaria village (Chhatarpur) alleging him as a Naxalite without any proof, which led to his death. He had been illegally detained in the police custody for more than 60 hours. The police justified it saying, “Since the Maoists had planted landmines on the road therefore Rajendra Yadav was not taken to the court.” Interestingly, the police did not recover any landmine from the spot therefore one can see it as an attempt to bury the inhuman acts of the Indian’s inhuman gunmen.
According to Dashrath Yadad, the father of Rajendra Yada, his son was taken under the custody by the police of Chhatarpur police station in the morning on December 30, 2009. On the next day, he went to Chhatarpur police station for inquiring about his son and the police told him that his son was sent to the office of the Superintendent of Police (SP). Thereafter, he immediately rushed to the SP’s office where he did not find his son and returned home with the empty hand. On 1st January, Dashrath Yadav came to know about the detention of his son in Town Police station and subsequently, he reached to the police station at 3’O clock in the afternoon. He was shocked to see Rajendra, who was suffering from terrible pain and not even able to speak clearly. Dashrath Yadav went back to home after painful experience. In the early morning on January 2, the police informed him about the death of his son, which was not unexpected.
The inhuman acts of the police did not end here. The next step of the police was to destroy the evidence of their inhuman acts. The police conducted post-mortem in absence of family members of the deceased. The medical officer of Daltenganj Sadar Hospital, Dr. Ajay Kumar Pathak was either bribed or influenced by the police for preparing a false post-mortem report, which states the cause of death as long illness of Rajendra Yadav rather than torture, beating on ill-treatment in the police stations, which created anger among the people. Since, the villagers were very upset on inhuman acts of the police therefore there was a public outrage against the police. After getting support of the people, the deceased’s family demanded for the re-post-mortem of the dead body, a high level inquiry on the matter and compensation to them.
Consequently, the Jharkhand government accepted couple of their demands. A team of doctors was constituted for conducting the re-post-mortem. The second post-mortem was conducted in Ranchi. The doctors found injuries in inside and outside of the dead body and reasoned the heavy bleeding as the cause of death. Finally, a criminal case was filed against the police of all the three police stations, who were involved in the inhuman treatment of Rajendra Yadav. The government also constituted a team of inquiry consisting of IAS officer A.N. Pandey and IPS officer Murarilal Meena. Ironically, they did not visit to the village of Rajendra Yadav and returned from the office of Chhatarpur SDO. The reason told was ‘security’. Question is why are these officers paid the public money if they are only concerned about their security?
Obviously, Rajendra Yadav is not the only one, who has undergone through such inhuman treatments of the India’s legal gunmen but there are hundreds of people undergo through the same kinds of inhuman treatments all most everyday across the country. There are thousands of painful testimonies of rape after rape, torture after torture and killing after killing by the police and security forces, whose role is to protect us, that’s what our legal texts describe. The fact is our legal gunmen are very much indulged in the inhuman acts of rape, torture, killing, bribery, threatening and the list goes on. In fact, the FIRs are not registered easily, fake encounters are organized for self interest and the impunity is always enjoyed by them. One has to bribe to the police in every check post and the police station. Now, the police stations have become the place of ill-treatment, torture, killing, bribery and manipulation. What kind of the national security is this?
Indeed, the top copes are not different from the small gunmen. We have heard the story of how IG Natrajan repeatedly raped Sushma Baraik an Adivasis women in Ranchi by luring her for a job. We know how the IPS officer Sumit Singh Sani exploited her women colleague and of course we are fully aware about the heartbreaking inhuman acts of former Haryana DGP, SPS Rathore. In fact, everyone is aware about the inhuman acts of the former DIG of Rajasthan Madhukar Tondon, Narendra Modi’s top cope Banjara and there is a long list of our top copes, who are very much indulged in the inhuman acts. Many reports suggest that the women were raped, innocent were tortured and many lost their lives due to inhuman acts of the India’s legal gunmen, which is much more than the people who lost their lives in the Naxal violence. Of course, one should not justify the Naxal violence. However, our text books teach us that the police are to protect us and maintain law and order, which is partly true therefore our children should be also taught about the inhuman acts of the police and security forces so that they would be always prepared to face them.
Needless to say that the women are raped, poor are tortured and many innocent people are killed in the name of the national security. Therefore, the corporate home minister P. Chidambaram must respond us before going for the second phase of the operation green hunt in the state of Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhatisgarh that why his gunmen are so inhuman? Can he give us the guarantee of security by these inhuman legal gunmen? Do the training procedures destroy humanity of these gunmen? Why doesn’t he go for a debate in the Indian parliament to find out the procedures to make these inhuman gunmen to human ones? And will he start operation red hunt against his inhuman gunmen to right their wrongs or will he allow them to enjoy the impunity as they have been enjoying for the decades? Perhaps, if we don’t respond these questions now, the humiliation, ill-treatment, torture, rape and killing of thousands of Rajendras by these inhuman gunmen of India will continue in the name of the national security.
Gladson Dungdung is a Human Rights Activist and Writer from Jharkhand. He can be reached at gladsonhractivist@...-- Gladson DungdungH R Activist and WriterRanchi, JharkhandEmail: gladsonhractivist@...Website: www.jharkhandmirror.org

Fake Killings: People as Trophies

Fake Killings: People as Trophies
Subhash Gatade May 6, 2007People who had a faint glimmer of hope about Kausar Bi’s whereabouts finally know that she is no more. As the counsel for the Gujarat himself
admitted before the Supreme Court, she was killed, burnt and her ashes were thrown in some field. But it does not throw light on the fact that who killed her ?It appears that Gujarat government wants to buy time to divulge the information. But the CID report filed by Ms Geeta Johri is very clear on this aspect.The interim report of the IG (CID) Geeta Johri - who investigated the case as per instruction from the Supreme Courst - know that Kausarbi was personally strangulated to death by D.H.Vanjara in the very presence of his wife and son (Bhaskar, 28 th April 2007).Imagine the head of the Anti Terrorism Squad, who till the other day functioned as DIG killing an innocent woman and using his position to cover up the crime. As things stand today the story of the encounter killing of Soharabuddin Sheikh in cold blood, followed by similar killing of his friend Tulsiram Prajapati and later his own wife Kausar Bi is getting murkier everyday. Thanks to Ruhabuddin Sheikh who persisted in his attempts to get justice and ultimately approached the Supreme Courts to intervene in this matter in which his brother was killed in a fake encounter and sister in law had gone missing. Today three senior police officers - two from Gujarat and one from Rajasthan are behind bars charged with kidnapping and murder of an innocent citizen. If the Gujarat government is compelled to follow the leads then it will have to apprehend more than two dozen other police officials from both the states who participated in the whole operations at some level.The manner in which the fake killing(s) have snowballed into a major embarassment for the ’invincible looking’ Modi regime is for everyone to see. Independent analysts have rightly pointed out that Amit Shah, a close buddy of Narendra Modi and in charge of the Home Ministry, who supposedly went all out to save the guilty officers, may also be sacrificed to save his mentor from further discomfirt. And looking at the evidence which is ranged against his buddies, the day is not far off when ’Hindu Hriday Samrat’ Modi may also have to personally face the music.IIOfcourse few things are crystal clear about this killing of an innocent citizen and packaging it as the killing of dreaded terrorist belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba. Firstly, the killing of Soharabuddin Sheikh was a joint operation by two states Gujarat and Rajasthan- both ruled by Sangh-BJP people- executed by officers who happened to be very close to the top echleons of the people in power. It was not for nothing that Gujarat government asked Ms. Geeta Johri to hand over her charge to another person, when she was to present the final report and Gulab Chand Kataria, the home minister of Rajasthan personally flew in a special plane with his other officers, to plead the case for Dinesh Kumar, a senior police officer with his government who is behind bars for this encounter.Secondly, if one were to believe the journalist who played a pivotal role in exposing the killing, then the task of eliminating Soharabuddin was undertaken at the behest of ( by taking ’Supari’ from) the rivals of the deceased and crores of Rs were exchanged for this purpose.Thirdly, it was not for the first time that Gujarat police have organised an encounter killing and presented it as killing of terrorists who had come to kill Modi, Togadia or any other similar rabble rouser from the Hindutva Brigade’. Does anybody remember the killing of Isharat Jahan, a college girl from Bombay along with three other persons a few years ago or the killing of Sami Ali Pathan and packaging it as another ’victory’ of the Gujarat police over ’terrorists’. While the opposition has claimed that during Vanjara’s tenure at the Anti Terrorism Squad 15 people were killed in 9 fake encounters. Asian Age (30 th April 2007) tells us that the ’Rogue Gujarat Cop Killed 13’. But it would be opportune to have a look at the manner in which he went about it. Ahmedabad, April 29: Controversial Gujarat IPS officer and “encounter specialist” D.G. Vanzara, now under arrest for the death of one Sohrabuddin in November 2005, has killed at least 13 people in the past few years on the alleged grounds that they were plotting to kill Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders. He has also arrested scores of “terrorists” on similar charges.To his colleagues and others he has depicted these fake encounters as “patriotic acts” which were evidence of his “deshbhakti.” The alleged “terrorists” who he had caught and killed, claiming that there were members of international terrorist outfits and engaged on deadly missions to kill Mr Modi and others, were all, barring one exception, armed only with “tamanchas”. These indigenously-made weapons are usually not the assassination weapon of choice employed by terrorist outfits. Mr Vanzara did this to justify the absence of injury to policemen while they were on such encounter missions.Fourthly, it is clear that the top bosses of the state were complicit in what was being done at the ATS level. Any layperson can gather that the killing spree engaged in by these rogue cops helped enhance the threat perception of ’Hindu Hriday Samrats’ inside as well as outside Gujarat and add glory to their image. It was not for nothing that they saw to it that not a single complaint reached the State Human Rights Commission against him. The clout which Vanjara enjoyed with the political masters can be gauged from the fact that he even managed to get his younger brother Vanraj Vanzara, who was with the state forest department, sent on deputation to the Gujarat State Human Rights Commission. It is not surprising to note that till date, the state human rights commission has not received any complaints against Mr Vanzara.IIIIt is worth noting that BJP, which finds itself on a sticky wicket in this fake killings has devised multiple lines of defence to avoid further embarassment to its ’poster boy’ Narendra Modi. Chances are that if the interim reports of the IG(CID) becomes public or CBI or any other investigation into the case is taken up at the federal level, then it would become further impossible for it to defend Modi.They understand it very well that if investigations proceed in this fake killings case, it would be incumbent upon the agency to have a look at similar encounters in the state which happened in recent past, to look for any ’method in this madness’.It will have to unravel the mystery where similar sounding post-facto justifications for the killings were peddled and pliant media was further used to add to the aura of Narendra Modi or his other buddies.Another important aspect of this investigation would be revisiting all those cases where people were apprehended on the suspicion that they were plotting to finish any of those Hindutva bigwigs and put behind bars under any of those draconian laws which are there in the kitty of the government. The recent acquittal of four innocent persons who had to languish in jail for around four years on similar trumped up charges is a case in point.The BJP has suddenly discovered that the concern expressed by justice loving people over the encounter killing of an innocent citizen is ’glorifying criminals’.They have dished out n number of charges filed against the people who were killed which were filed supposedly in different police stations in the two states. But in their overenthusiasm to save their skin, they forgot the basic constitutional premise which has devised mechanisms to deal with criminals in a legitimate manner. And it was not surprising that when cornered by the media, whether it believes in the rule of law, it was found fumbling for words.It has also taken a position that fake killings are a norm everywhere in today’s times where the justice delivery mechanisms are already cracking under its own weight. They are thus of a considered opinion that it is not proper that Gujarat or for that matter Rajasthan should be singled out for that.Following the old dictum that offence is the best defence, they have rediscovered that other parties are soft towards terrorism and BJP is the only party which is supposedly playing a no nonsense battle against terrorism.There was a news in a section of the media that after lying low for some time Mr Narendra Modi is planning to go on the offensive on this issue. It is learnt that he has asked his colleagues to make a plan where the killing of Sohrabuddin could be projected as the Saffron Party’s resolute battle against terrorism. It wants to project that Congress as well as left as supporters of criminals/terrorists. The only lacunae in this whole plan is the killing of Kausarbi as well as Tulsiram Prajapati, a backward caste Hindu.IVOne hopes that further details would come out in the ensuing investigations and we would get to know the real culprits in the whole case. But the moot question is that can the fake encounter killings could be reduced to the depradations of few officers who were out to make some fast buck or gain greater proximity to their political masters or one should look for the larger gameplan hatched by the powers that be which made such killings inevitable.Perhaps one should look at the three year old plan made by the Gujarat goverment supposedly to ’counter terrorists’It sounds surprising that the ’revealations about the counter terrorism plan of the Gujarat police’ (The Rediff Special, Sheela Bhatt in Ahmedabad, How Gujarat plans to counter terrorists, July 15, 2004) which sent shivers down the spine of the religious minorities in the state especially the Muslims then which were yet to recover from the trauma and tribulations of the post Godhra carnage could not become a matter of debate at the national level then also.The implicit understanding (as per the Gujarat government) behind this plan was that the ‘state has become a haven for terrorists’ ( read Islamic terrorists)’. In an interview to the same emag the additional CP of Ahmedabad Mr Vanzara had hammered this point home in no uncertain terms plainly stating that ..After the Godhra carnage and the subsequent riots terrorists of a variety of types and shapes are aiming at Gujarat. Gujarat has become the destination for terrorists.(The Rediff Interview July 27,2004) . As a precursor to this plan a detailed survey of the number of mosques, madrasas at the state level was done and the various Islamic organisations active inside the state and their alleged linkages with other national-international organisations was also noted. As per the plan every policeperson from the constable level upwards was instructed to keep a close watch on the situation at the ground level. S/He was also asked to keep tabs on meetings at masjids and the goings on in the Madrasas. Activities of the Tablighi Jamaat were to be keenly watched under this plan. It is clear to even a layperson that the neatly designed ‘counter terrorism plan’ of the Gujarat government at the behest of the state government stigmatised the whole minority community in uncertain terms. The most ironic part was that it did not even bother to mention the extremist elements within the Hindu community at whose behest the postGodhra pogrom of the minorities mainly Muslims was undertaken. And the need to keep a close watch on the controversial activities of the plethora of organisations of the Hindutva Brigade and its leaders was thus skillfully scuttled. The action plan conveniently missed the warning by the intelligence people which has clearly asked to rein in Hindutva fanatics. To quote : ’intelligence bureau people overseeing the national scene had warned the central government to rein in elements like Praveen Togadia and Ashok Singhal if it was keen to nip the fresh sources for terrorist activities in the bud.’ (Jansatta, Hindi Daily, 5 th Sep, 2003, Delhi, ‘Intelligence bureau warns the government about Togadia and Singhal )According to the top bosses of the Gujarat police the plan had traced its origins to the murder of former state home minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Haren Pandya. It is still being said that the murder of Mr Haren Pandya opened up the eyes of the state government that the state has become a breeding ground for terrorists belonging to organisations like the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. Ofcourse it is another matter that till date Mr Vithalbhai Pandya, father of Mr Haren Pandya has consistently maintained that his son’s murder was politically motivated and has pointed his fingers at the higher ups in the state BJP for their complicity in the same. As a mark of protest against the state government’s reticence to investigate his charges, in the elections to the parliament in 2004 he even contested as an independent candidate against Mr L.K.Advani. Looking at the track record of the state government in pursuing matters of governance and the way its whole apparatus unfolded itself in a partisan manner during the 2002 pogrom , the ‘counter terrorism plan’ did not sound surprising.It is a fact that the trauma of the minorities has not ended with the pogrom only. The way they were subjected to all round harassment right from relief distribution to apprehending the guilty is for everyone to see. Till date a significant section of the Muslim population in the state is facing economic boycott. Also the way the highly draconian POTA was misused and innocent persons were victimised in the state in post pogrom times is a fact which has also been well documented. A report filed by the AFP ( New Delhi, Sep 03) had said that our of the 240 booked under POTA which carries a death penalty 239 were Muslims and one was a Sikh. While muslims had been booked for three different attacks on Hindus, including the burning of Sabaramati Express at Godhra last year, the attack on Ahmedabad’s Akshardham temple and the murder of former minister Haren Pandya, it was clear that despite the participation of thousands of Hindus in the pogrom none of the cases were found to be a fit enough for clamping POTA against him/her.It need be added that this ‘counter terrorism plan of the state police’ had come as a sequel to the amended Gujarat Control of Organised Crime Bill (GUJCOC), which was passed by the Gujarat assembly in the beginning of June ’04. The Bill had almost all the provisions of POTA, including the authority to hold the accused in jail without trial and provisions giving jurisdiction only to special courts to try the cases under the Act. It would be naivette to think that the said action plan which is partisan in nature and communal in content would have seen the light of the day without the directions from the top bosses of the Parivar. Ofcourse the rationale behind the plan was not difficult to decipher.V.Even a cursory glance at the action plan - which largely went unnoticed in the rest of the country - makes it clear that it has provided a free hand to the law and order people in the state to continuously harass minorities as part of their ’mission’ of countering terrorism. The next step then becomes catching hold of innocent people belonging to the minority community at regular intervals and bumping them offf supposedly to provide a post facto justification of the ’success of the action plan’.Isharat Jahan, Sami Ali Pathan or Soharabuddin Sheikh and many of their ilk - independent citizens of a secular nation, then merely become ’trophies’ which are displayed from time to time to convince the pliant masses the danger such ’other’ people present to the tranquility of the stateThere is no doubt the likes of Vanjara and all his associates in the encounter killing who have committed crime against humanity be given exemplary punishment but simultaneously we should enhance our efforts so that the real culprits in this game are not allowed to go scot free. People who have been peddling agenda of hate for the last eighty plus years, people who have no qualms in presenting the Gujarat genocide 2002 as ’successful experiment’, people who promote such ’Dirty Harrys’ to do the ’needful’.

The Panacea for Militancy- Through criminal ways of Molester cop-the inside story

The popular perception created through media hype was that It is the Kanwar Pal Singh Gill who provided exemplary leadership and lead the Punjab Police to turn the tide against militants. Fact remains popular public support for such a militant movement that may resort to the killings of innocents was neither part of the tenets of sikh religion nor it ever exhisted. What exhisted was a criminal problem and this fire of alleged militancy was fanned through unprofessional and criminal ways of conuct of Punjab Police itself, a large number of youths were forced into this fire, and it is during this Era that every Punjab Police personnel made millions by extorting money and made properties. It is admitted fact by the Punjab Police officers who are still part of organization that miltancy in Punjab was spread by police and later on curbed by the police by killing innocent youths in fake encounters but the real terrorists were allowed to be escaped with huge monies to foreign shores and it served the purpose of both. What benefitted from Punjab militancy was not any khalistan movement but criminal elements on both the sides, in Police as well in public but the real price has been paid by the common man and it has affected the three generations of some families and those families have been pushed into dark allays and their wounds will end only when those families becoming extinct themselves, they have been left to suffer in ignominy.Media hype created buzz word that Kanwar Pal's exemplary leadership inspired the trust of local pouplace and it turned against the terrorists , but that support was there already. There never was any support from the local population.In the two years before Golden Temple was attacked total of 200 people were killed.The two years that followed the attack on Golden Temple over 25,000 people were killed in violence. The movement had following composition.1. 10% committed for Sikh theological reovlution.2. 25% for economic reasons (Chandigarh, Water to Rajasthan, etc) through violence.3. 25% to settle personal vendatta against their enemies.4. 40% to make quick money through violence (robbing bank, kidnappings, etc)Now KPS gill only solved 3 and 4 from above. HOW. 1. He turned the political/economic issue of punjab a Hindu/Sikh issue (which it never was). 2. HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS. He got the women, children and old folks of the militants killed by police in civvies and himself acted as a brute criminal, emboldened by the silence of weak political leadership his police embarked upon the journey of killing spree of youth of punjab and extortion of money thus he beat the robbers like Ahmadshah abdali also and the notoreity went to his head to the extent that he lost all the decency of living in a civilised society and molested Ms.Rupen deol bajaj in full public view of bureaucrats, what else can be expected from a criminal mind.Extra judicial killings were so bad that even Sikh leaders like Maan (who resigned after golden temple attack from IPS post) was saved when a punjab police hindu gentleman refused to shoot at him in an extra judicial murder attempt. 100% punjabi families were affectedby gross human rights violations. Eventhough militants got the punishment but we areyet to see Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar, (responsible for Delhi massacre and others hanged till death.While the real economic/political issue of infrastructure, Chandigarh for punjab, waters to rajasthan and haryana are still to be solved.

Truth about IPS

Isn't it correct that we remain on diatribe against politicians and they remain our favourite whipping boys. Whether it was Jessica case or Priyadarshini mattoo case,Nithari or Arushi case, Batla House or Mumbai massacre, Khairlanji or Ruchika every where, we have been failed by our elitist I.P.S.2.It is the prime duty of leadership to prepare its institution to deal and perform, in which IPS leadership has completely failed its police fraternity(Those who perform at Police station level).3.What is the status of 25 IPS officers who were placed under suspension for corruption in recruitment in UP.This very corruption lays the foundation of cases like Jessica and Ruchika.4.The intake system in police as IPS that we have in India, is no where in the world including UK,USA,NZ,Australia, these are all democracies.5.Isn't it fact that IPS system is remnant of colonial India and retrograde for democracy.6.IPS leadership did not work to improve its own police institution but has began on aretrigrade journey of militarisation of Indian police, being copy cat is easy and it is in our blood to be copy cats. example is begining of Formation signs on arm of police uniforms,Flags and star plates on cars is just an example.7.What attracts professionals like Doctors and Engineers to IPS is not the service of the Nation but the "power" that is felt more when misused and absued. "Money" in abundance that is illgotten and at the end we can conveniently blame everything on POLITICIANS.8.It has got everything to do with training at NPA, the value system that is being inculcated there has made its product vulnerable to petty temptations of wine,women and wealth and outcome is injustice with hapless people through instant justice of fake encounters for demonstrative performance to deviate the attention of public and further it leads to the scandals and criminalisation of entire police in India, because the product of IPS is uniformly distributed. May it be Kanwar Pal Gill or SPS Rathod or RK Sharma or millionaire Virk,or Vanjara, they are unfortunate to have been exposed.9.Which police rule or part of CrPC allows political interference in operational independence of police, quote me one ? It is big propaganda!10.Fact remains ! It is the people who perform and not the laws but in the form of people what we have is IPS. Doing the samething again and again and expecting different results is called insaity. and that's what we have been doing.Every time enacting new laws but the people will remain same , remnants of colonial era.

Immune Police service-Kanwar Pal Gill,SPS Rathod,Inc.

Hero as Molester
Subhash Gatade September 25, 2005
Tags: womens rights
Those were the days of the late eighties when Punjab was ’battling’ violent extremism of a different kind. Days when instances of gross human rights violations by the state were brushed aside as fabrications by vested interests. And riding high on
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the resolve of the powers that be to crush the recalcitrant elements was the then IG of Police Mr K.P.S. Gill, the last of the ’supercops’. Euologised by the media and adored by the chattering classes this ’no nonsense’ man was presented as the state’s answer to the ’terrorism sponsored from across the borders’.And it then seemed to be in the fitness of things that when supposedly the ’nation’s honour’ was at stake the Supercop’s misdemenaour vis a vis a fellow female senior IAS officer in a party were considered insignificant. And when she protested his molesting her she was told by her own colleagues that she was blowing the issue out of proportion. Ultimately when she decided to file a suit against the ’supercop’ for invading her right to bodily integrity, which every citizen of this country has under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, many of her seniors including the then Punjab governor Mr Siddharth Shankar Ray and even the first of the supercops Mr Ribiero advised her to ’forgive and forget’.All those wise men who had the audacity to counterpose nation’s honour to women’s honour stand exposed today albeit after a long gap of 17 years. The highest courts of the country has ruled in favour of the inviolable rights of the woman as woman granted by the constitution.The recent judgement by the Supreme Court which has finally convicted Mr Gill for ’outraging the modesty’ of Ms Rupan Deol Bajaj has finally vindicated what Ms Bajaj had been saying and maintaining all these years. She had always said that there cannot be hierarchies of honour before the constitution and it would be anti human even to think in terms of sacrificing woman’s right to a life of dignity and self respect at the altar of the nation.One still remembers the way in which Ms Bajaj was victimised for her standing up to the supercop. On the one hand the ’Supercop’ a darling of the media and the political class was winning laurels after laurels for ’breaking the backbone of militancy’ and on the other hand she was condemned to insignificatn postings supposedly for sullying the image of this ’Hero’.Persistence pays and slowly but not so silently she started winning legal battles against the Supercop. The first order by the sessions court came exactly ten years after that ’dinner party.’ The sessions court in Punjab sentenced Mr Gill to three months in prison.( 1998). The reaction from a section of the media was ferocious. Chandan Mitra, editor of ’The Pioneer’ wrote a fiery front page editorial wherein he went out of his ways to defend Mr Gill when the session courts had delivered its judgement. He castigated all those people who were fighting for women’s dignity when the ’nation’s dignity itself was at stake’. Ofcourse Mr Chandan Mitra was not alone in holding such views.He was in good company with the other watchdogs of democracy and upholders of freedom of expression at least on this issue.’Long years of wait, minus long years of suffering equals nothing.’ Thus went a poem which narrated the hopes, aspirations, struggles of a woman which finds herself in a crisis situation. The smile on Ms Rupan Deol Bajaj’s face the other day after hearing the judgement of the SC rather conveyed the same feeling. And remaining true to the spirit of her struggle she has donated the fine of 2 Lakh to a woman’s organisation so that women in similar circumstances at least get some help. The court has ordered Mr Gill to pay this fine to Ms Bajaj.Definitely this is a moment of celebration for all of us . It is a victory of the indomitable spirit of Ms Rupan Deol Bajaj who refused to get cowed down by the aweinspiring Supercop. One can say without any exaggeration that it is significant step forward for the women’s movement also which has consistently fought for violence against women in all its forms. But the saga of struggle of Ms Rupan is also a moment of reflection. -The first and foremost point which needs to be addressed is the longish wait for justice in any such case of sexual harassment / assaults. Despite the molestation occuring in full public view in this case, it took seventeen long years for the courts to decide. Counsellors or social activists come across cases where legal battles continue in cases of rapes of children till the victim reaches adulthood. Judiciary, executive as well as the legislature which has enough dominance of patriarchal notions and values over its functioning have refused to take a serious note of this phenomenon where the victim has to undergo trauma again and again with every hearing.- In fact, it has been a longstanding demand of the women’s movement that all cases of sexual harassment or gender related violence be expedited. It has been proposed that special courts be formed at various levels. Looking at the special nature of this crime where the victim of such sexual violence is left to herself to bear the ’stigma’, activists have consistently maintained that steps be taken to change the situation.But despite fifty five years of Indias’ ushering into a Republic one does not see that the powers that be are serious about it. - A related issue is the cavalier manner in which first information reports are filed by the police in all such cases and the sloppy investigation which takes place. The judiciary has time and again castigated the police for its partial investigations and its biased role which has allowed many a accused to escape scotfree despite clinching evidence against them. Looking at the overall picture one very well understands why the actual rate of conviction is less that two percent. Of course, of late one does notice some improvements on this front.In a few recent cases the constant supervision of the media coupled with the people’s pressure has facilitated early resolution of acts of violence against women.The recent case from Jodhpur can be said to break new grounds as far as similar cases are concerned. In fact in this case where a foreign tourist was sexually assaulted by two persons,the verdict was delivered within a span of less than a month. But it can be said to be an irony of sorts that in all these cases the class and caste background of the victim/ perpetrator has been a defining feature. While the Rajasthan court was efficient enough to deliver justice in case of the foreigner, it has been more than thirteen years that the case of the rape of Bhanwari Devi, a grassroot worker from the women’s development Programme’ is languishing in courts there. The session courts had quashed her petition quoting ’the great Indian family tradition’ because two of her perpetrators were related to each other. Bhanwari Devi has appealed to the High court to seek justice but the court has yet to find time to deliberate on the case. Similar is the issue in case of the sexual assault on Ruchika which ultimately led to her suicide which involved a senior police officer from Haryana. It has been alleged that this man Rathod, who retired last year as DIG of Haryana, had sexually assaulted Ruchika in the early 90s. When Ruchika tried to raise the case, this man helped lodge false cases of cycle thefts against her younger brother which led him to spend quite a few days in prison. Devastated by the whole incident Ruchika committed suicide. Such is the clout of this officer despite his retirement that till date not even an FIR has been lodged against him. A legal battle is going on in the courts which involves parents of Ruchika’s friend who have been witness to the trauma through which she went all those years. It has been their firm resolve that the rapist be nabbed as early as possible. The latest addition to the long list of police personnel whose sexual inneunedos have made headlines is the DIG of Ranchi Mr Natarajan who was caught on the secret camera while seeking sexual favours from a complainant tribal woman.One still remembers the famous observation made by Justice A.N. Mulla of the Allahabad highcourt in the late fifties where he had termed Indian police as an ’Organised goonda force’. Looking at the plethora of cases which have come up recently where one has found the involvement of police personnel in cases of harassing / molesting / raping women it would not be out of place to imagine what would have been Justice Mulla’s reaction to it. He would have been forthright enough to call it a ’gang of molesters’.Is not it time for a reality check for the police ?

Criminal Police Leadership- Fake encounters

“Ishrat Jahan was killed in fake encounter in Gujarat”
Manas Dasgupta
Vanzara among top police officials involved, says probe report
AHMEDABAD: In yet another major setback to the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat, Ahmedabad metropolitan magistrate S.P. Tamang, has ruled that the incident in which Ishrat Jahan and three others were killed in June, 2004, was yet another case of “fake encounter.”
In his 243-page hand written report on the encounter, Mr. Tamang has named the then “encounter specialist” of the Gujarat police, D.G. Vanzara, and others as accused in the “cold blooded murder” of the teenaged girl and three others.
Mr. Vanzara and several other policemen are already in jail in connection with the Sohrabuddin case which the State government confessed before the Supreme Court was a case of “fake encounter.”
A special three-member team of top police officers of the State appointed by the Gujarat High Court for a fresh investigation into the Ishrat Jahan encounter is seized of the matter.
Claiming that Ishrat and three others were killed in fake encounter by the police officers for their personal interests, get promotions and gain appreciations from the Chief Minister, Mr Tamang appended a list of top police officers running into about two pages who he held responsible for the fake encounter. Besides Mr Vanzara and his then deputy in the Crime Branch police, N. K. Amin, who along with Mr Vanzara was also arrested in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, the list includes the then Ahmedabad police commissioner, K. R. Kaushik, the then chief of the Crime Branch, P. P. Pandey, another alleged encounter specialist Tarun Barot and a host of other senior police officers.
Mr Tamang’s report said the Crime Branch police “kidnapped” Ishrat and three others from Mumbai on June 12 and brought them to Ahmedabad. The four were killed on the night of June 14 in police custody, but the police claimed that an “encounter” took place on the morning of June 15 near Kotarpur water works on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. The rigor mortis that had set in clearly indicated that Ishrat died between 11 p.m. and 12 midnight the previous night and the police apparently pumped bullets into her body to substantiate the encounter theory.
It said the explosives, rifles, and other weapons allegedly found in their car were all “planted” by the police after the encounter.
The police had then claimed that Ishrat, a resident of Mumbra near Mumbai, and three others — Javed Sheikh, a convert son of Gopinath Pillai of Kerala and two Pakistani citizens Amzad Ali Rana and Jishan Jauhar — were connected with Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, and were coming to Gujarat to assassinate Mr. Modi to avenge the 2002 communal riots.

Failures of Police Leadership

If army leadership fails to make people surrender to its demands then it is not worth its salt. What you are talking about IPS quota, so called IPS have done more damage to the country then any other service or even politicianthe need of hour is that we rise above vested interests and petty differences of army ,BSF and think in the larger interest of the society and promote the professionalism in every service to save the great India from further humiliations, you must not have forgotten the Boraibari, and the fidayeen at Taj bringing down the might of Indian security foces to its knees. You know about Mr.Padamshree, how he has succeeded in misleading whole country on the "Politics of Police Reforms" and our apex court at the helm of this rot, is not leaving any stone unturned to further insulate this lobby from any accountability. all meritorious/distinguished/gallant/ BSF Generals (serving/retired) if they get together and bring out just one article on the issue will be worth it but we exhaust our vocabulary just after two sentences and coming up with articles on national level and conceive a plan and strategize it, will be like asking for moon. I am copy pasting again the article of General Surjeet with my comments on it. few senior IPS/IAS officers have unleased diatribe on this effort it is very healthy sign and exposes the under belly . Objective is not to cirulate my name among the officers of your elite organization but if it can arouse the intellectual giant sleeping in the alleged BSF Generals forget about DCs and 2ICs and COMDTs.Cheers !May God bless the protruding tummies! Long live psychofancy and nepotism !with best of regardssincerely yoursAridaman jit singh----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article of General SurjeetIf India is united and intact today, it is because of its military and in spite of our frenzied polity. I dare you to name a colonel or a general who is either communal or a zealot.Marching Shoulder to ShoulderOn Republic Day, as they march down the Rajpath, the lay Indian can not tell the difference between the Army and the Police. And there is no need for any dissimilarity, because both these land forces exist for the same purpose; ‘to protect the life and property of our citizens.’Look further and you find that their swords, rifles and even badges of rank are similar. Their respective cadres have well defined equivalents at each rung and their salary structures are determined by the same pay panels. Indeed, based on these striking similarities, the Sixth Pay Commission recommended that a lot could be achieved if soldiers retiring from the Army could be laterally shifted to the police force.The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) rejected the suggestion outright. Its reasons for rejecting this apparently desirable administrative reform will become clear as you read on. To understand this complex issue, it is necessary to know the radical differences in their terms and conditions of service and their leadership patterns. The Numbers GameFor the purpose of this discussion, all security personnel controlled by the MHA have been grouped together. Thus the State police cadres have been combined with the Para Military outfits such as the CRPF, BSF etc. The macro-level picture is as follows (all figures are approximate and based on averages of the last few years):
ArmyPolice ServicesStrength of the force11 lakh 23 lakhNumber of officers (sanctioned) 43,000 3800Deficiency of officers 11,500 NilAnnual intake of officers 1050 (regular) 60 (direct IPS)Officers in grades above PB4 9Over 250Levels of EntryIn the Army, soldiers are inducted at two levels: as enlisted men and as officers. There is a provision for sepoy entrants to rise to officer ranks, but of the 60,000 soldiers recruited each year, less than 150 end up as officers.In the Police, the entry is at four levels: (i) as constables (ii) as Inspectors (iii) in the State Police cadres and eligible to enter the IPS and (iv) direct entrants to the IPS. The figures with me suggest that of the 3800 officers, the number of direct entrants into the IPS is a little over 2200.Promotion Prospects and Terms of EngagementAll police personnel retire at the age of 60. The four levels of entry more or less determine the terminal post of an entrant, within a narrow range. Thus a constable may at best become an Inspector; an Inspector may rise to a middle level officer; a State police officer would rise to be a DIG or IG and indeed, the direct entrant to the IPS would normally retire as a Director General of Police.In sharp contrast, promotions in the army are extremely difficult to attain. Less than 600 out of the 60,000 men who are recruited retire as Sub-Maj, on an average. Of the 1100 officers granted commission each year, no more than 600 rise to command their battalions regiments. About 125 become Brigadiers, 50 rise to be Maj-General, 15 can see three stars on their car, and a plucky three or four attain the apex grade.Retirement is also rank related. With every promotion, a soldier earns the right to serve for two additional years. These highly coveted promotions are earned through sheer dint of hard work and commitment to service. Medical fitness and discipline standards are the other two determinants for ascendancy.In the police service also, standards have been laid down and cops have to undergo courses of instruction and earn good reports to rise in the hierarchy. But the infinitesimal numbers inducted at higher levels of entry enable a very high proportion of entrants to get promoted almost as a matter of course. This indeed is easy to administer, just promote the man who joined the force early. Seniority is a matter of fact. Merit and performance are based on opinions, which may differ. Struggle for existence and survival of the fittestThere is a flip side to this highly ingenious method of ‘cadre management’ devised by the civil servants. Assured promotion tends to lead to complacency. Competition brings the best out of a person. Promotion can be a good motivator for employees to strive for excellence in performance. The dictum enunciated by Darwin applies to all living beings. Seniority teaches through hands on experience, but that is not the sole determinant of performance. I ask, ‘Do you choose a surgeon on the basis of his ‘seniority’ in the job?’Leader-Led ratioThere are many differences between the Police and the Army. But the ratio of officers to men is perhaps the most striking one. At a party, a Police officer told me that the total number of IPS officers in UP is about 400. Of them more than half are of the level of DIG and above, with as many as twenty DGs of Police.The number of officers in an Infantry Division is about 450. Of them no more than five are of the one-star rank and there is only one Major General. The result is that on ground, the apex police officers have no young officer to field when the chips are down. It is a time tested fact that soldiers will go into battle, if and only if, they are led from the front. You can not sit in an air conditioned office and ask men to go and face the bullet. The situation is like:Aasman pe dhoom hai, zamin par koi nahin: Sab to DG hain yahan, halakoo koi nahin! The number of star ranks in the Police Service would make no difference to the soldiers if the two land forces were to exist and operate in isolated environments: the military on the borders and the police within the country. But the position on ground is that at every bend in the Ganges, the polity turns to the army for help. Whether it is a riot or terrorist attack or even a child trapped in a pit, the Police rushes to the Army for help. And when that happens, hackles go up. When a DIG with 15 years service tries to throw the weight of his ‘one-star’ status on a Commanding Officer, the soldier’s ego suffers a blow. Similarly, at ceremonial functions, when the General Officer Commanding of an Area is seated next to third rung Police officers, you can not fault him if he feels slighted.What impels Police to turn to the Army for help?It is often believed that the Police turns to the military because the Army has better weapons and equipment. This is not entirely true. The difference is not in the kind of arms or ammunition: it is in leadership styles.The Army has a band of spirited young officers which the Police lacks. The direct entrants into the IPS are all potential Director Generals, and so they think ‘big’ from the day they join the Police Academy. There is also a difference in their selection process. It takes at least three years to prepare for the civil services examination, a considerable cerebral effort. The training at the Police Academy is a bit like military training, but the duration is short and the failure rate negligible. The youthful military officer is selected through outdoor tests and the training is an undiluted ‘grind.’Let us now take a look at the adversary. The typical terrorist, gangster, brigand or ‘jihadi’ is a young man in his twenties. He is deeply committed to his cause and willing to die. He is agile, swift, ingenuous and frenzied, and armed. You can not reason with him, because he is unwilling to talk. To lock horns with him you need someone to match his prowess, and stake his life for the cause. Your book learning, analytical prowess and debating skills are, in fact, a liability. You cannot beat him by writing cogent papers or through media pressure. The likes of Veerappan can only be tackled by people who can play the game as per rules defined by the bandit - “Loha hi lohe ko kaat sakta hai” (you need an iron tool to cut iron). This kind of ‘tool’ can only be produced by a military academy. Police Academy cannot match that standard. The Caste and Community factorA wag said, ‘There are very few Indians in India. The rest are Jats, Marathas, Sikhs, Nagas…’ Politics are caste and community based. Voting is along these lines. Political parties fan communal passions to garner votes. Riots do not occur, they are planned and executed by men who seek power and glory. The Police serves under political bosses.The Army, on the other hand, is insulated from political influence, ensconced in cantonments. So when communal frenzy bursts, the presence of Police does not deter the rioters. Gujarat was a repeat of the mayhem in Delhi. I visited some of the worst affected areas in November 1984 and every one told the same story: Police either bolted or joined the mob.Image of Police in IndiaIt is not my intention to comment on the quality of police service we Indians receive in return for our taxes. The traffic is managed reasonably well; free and fair elections are conducted and our religious processions and ‘kumbh melas’ receive due care. The forte of our police service is the protection of national leaders. The posse of armed guards and motor cavalcades that accompany them are an imposing sight. The most threatened are the senior-most police officers themselves. It is not unusual to see a canvas colony near the residence of a senior cop. But for the rest, and in the eyes of the lay Indian, the profile of a policeman is:• He is pot bellied, betel chewing, barely able to fit into his uniform• If caught for a traffic offence, you can bribe the cop and get away• Police stations are littered with garbage and not much use is made of technology to capture and process information• If an offence is committed by a VIP’s brat, the cop will turn the Nelson’s eye• If an accident occurs, the stupid will be caught; the clever need not worry Para Military Forces and Central Police Organizations (CPOs)Before independence, Assam Rifles and the Central Reserve Police were the only two forces under the Government of India. The proliferation began thereafter, and today the combined strength of the CPOs now exceeds six lakh. There is a plan to add 1.23 lakh in the near future. We seem to raise a new force whenever a new threat appears. These forces are under the Ministry of Home Affairs and the aggregate ‘culture’ which they imbibe is that of the police.The Sixth Central Pay Commission recommended lateral absorption of Army personnel into the Police, and went on to suggest that the entrance examination and selection process should be common. The Commission wanted to bridge the gap between the Army and the CPOs. The Ministry of Home Affairs rejected the proposal summarily. The reasons advanced make pathetic reading. It has not been understood that mere numbers will not instill a sense of security amongst our citizens. The need of the hour is to identify root causes. Every time there is a Pay Commission, policemen cry and clamour for more ‘high level’ posts. Way out of this QuagmireIt is a fact that the military is upset at the treatment meted out to soldiers. If the different land forces were operating in isolation, each could evolve its own cadre structure, wear uniforms of the kind that suits them, display a dozen stars on their cars.But if they are to operate in the same environment, the norms must have a semblance of uniformity. Military and the Police must complement each other; not compete. Each has to see the viewpoint of the other. The road that divides North Block and South Block needs to be bridged; it must not turn into a moat. Some questions beg answers:• Soldiers get free rations, but have no pot bellies. Policemen get no free meal; from where do the nutrients come to sustain their enormous waistlines?• Indians are inherently untidy. Police stations can not be faulted for the litter of garbage. But why do military units give such a tidy appearance?• Corruption is a universal phenomenon, so if a cop accepts a bribe, why bother? But has anyone seen a soldier seeking protection money when deployed for Internal Security duties?The reason for the relatively greater responsiveness is just one: in the military, every promotion has to be earned; in the civil services, it is claimed as a matter of right through seniority. The Bottom LineBefore Independence, the highest ranking police officer was rated lower than Maj-Gen in the table of precedence. This inequity was rightly corrected, and for a long time every State had one Inspector General who ranked at par with a two-star soldier. Then suddenly, a snake bit the soldiers and cops found a ladder. In the wake of this Pay Commission, scores of police officers have been equated with the Army Commander and the numbers who rank above the General Officer Commanding cannot even be counted. The strength of the police forces has risen, and their status is rising. The citizens’ sense of security has diminished in the same proportion. Some recent indicators:• When a dozen terrorists sneaked into Mumbai, the Army had to be flown in from Delhi to flush them out• In the current recession when jobs are being slashed, private security industry has zoomed a whopping 25 percent• Anyone of means wants to hire a guard for his house; corporate firms hire specialists for the purpose• Some major business houses are toying with the idea of raising their own special forces on the lines of the National Security Guards, just as large condominium complexes install captive power generation plantsOur 23 lakh security persons ably led by more than 300 Director Generals of Police are unable to guarantee security for a few cricket matches because of elections next month. So the Indian Premier League will be played in South Africa. This has put a big question mark on the Commonwealth Games next year.Maj. Gen. Surjit Singh, AVSM,VSM, is an army veteran

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finally we are waking up to the Leadership failures in Police Machinery across the nation It is good to see that finally people in OZEE have started taking note of the prevailing situation on the aspects of the security of the nation. you may compromise on any aspect but the moment you compromise on the aspects of the security of your nation, you are heading for the dooms day. Army is presumed to be responsible only to deal with the external threats but lets also remember that this is the only organ of our democracy that is most organized and our last resort in case of any eventuality on that we can bank upon. In the democracies public is the overall master of the nation and every act in the running of the affairs of the nation is done in public interest, whether it is question of appointing of a Director General of police or appointment of a constable, everything is done in public interest but as a matter of fact the public interest is just a formality or ceremonial but it is the vested interests that have taken over the whole process. at the time of independence every district used to have a police officer in the rank of a captain level officer, even today District police chiefts are called Police Kaptaan. Investigation officers used to be police officers of the rank of Sub-Inspectors or Seargents which continues till date. whether it is murder of Jessica lal or Priyadarshini mattoo or Nitish Katara, or Nithari, IOs are still of the rank of Sub Inspectors( they could be promotee or Direct entrant graduates). The entire evidence in the court of law is presented by the IO and not by the district police chiefs, they neither have any accountability in this whole process nor any responsibilty but they can influence the IOs by the virtue of their position. There is not any corresponding increase in the posts of Sub Inspectors as much increase has taken place in the ranks of Director Generals. UP Police that is infamous for its corrupt and inefficient ways and remains in the news for all the wrong reasons, has 56 Three star Generals(15 DGs and 41 Addl DGs), It has 58 two star generals who are master in creating weired fantasies during the press confrences and stigmatise the people like Dr.Talwar. It has 67 one star generals. all these general rank officers know nothing about security but they can be seen gracing the various security related appointments and Intellengence appointments. the entire police leadership of post independent era has failed india by not learning the profession and developing the police appratus the way it was required, rather it began on a unhealthy competetion with armed forces in copying its functioning and that is reflected in compltete police working. In army a brigade commander has his well defined role and he commands the troops in the quantum of a brigade and takes his brigade in attack or defence but when it comes to Police DIG, they just created this rank to advance their own vested interest but it has neither accountability nor functional utility. Similar is the story with every general rank in the police forces. latest copy cat formula borrowed from armed forces by the police organizations is the adoption of DIV SIGN (formation sign) on the left or right arm of the uniform and the flag culture. it has its relevance in army in tactical modes but why public money has been blown up to get it embroidered on Khaki police uniforms , it is just a small example of the professional bankcruptcy of police leadership. The kamtes and Karkares of Maharastra Police part of so called highly euoliged Anti Terror Squad were in the ranks of DIG and IG(Brigadier and Major General) and what they mobiliged to counter the terrorists was an Inspector so called enncounter specialist Inspector salaskar, who had about 75 kills to his credit but all these specialists are killed like sitting ducks without even firing a single shot( statement of their constable who was in the same Qualis vehicle and pretended to be dead to the terrorists) but their unprofessionalism is decorated with gallantery medals on republic day. Yea! gallantry medals have got everything to do with the seniority of rank, more the seniority, higher the gallantry. In police funtioning getting gallantry award is a ritual, as it will bring the perks of tax rebate free travel and other benefits. There is Politics of Police reforms. The so called police reformer Mr.Prakash singh was questioned by me on one ocassion about so called propaganda of political interference, when questioned that whether you are operationally independent or not, he had no answers. There is no interference into operational functioni8ng of the police and if it is tolerated it reflects upon the unprofessional conduct of the police officers. basically police is the most corrupt and most powerful organ of this democracy and we people need to begin this exercise to build up public opinion on the issue of accoutability and corruption in police and police reforms from people's perspective. Through this forum I would invite all the vigilant citigens and retired officers to come together, let us begin with holding a seminar on this issue at delhi. we can be reached on following email address aridaman@nishanjustice.org please visit us at www.nishanjustice.org and also my blog http://call100.blogspot.com/ I congratulate the General for having written such a good article.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Now read the Response of IPS Lobby on above( Mr.Abhinav is an IPS officer from UP cader) heaping praises on criminal elements(molesters). The entire anti militancy operations were lead by BSF/CRPF officers on deputation and press confrences and media managemnet handled by IPS officers. GEN Rebiro and the convicted cop KANWAR PAL lead entire police forces not by personal example but by media management and press statements like politicians. Kanwar Pal set example of molesting the woman in full public view and then leading indian hockey to bankcruptcy with his examplary leadership and management skills untill he was booted out and BSF Generals must recommend naming of Jullunder hockey ground in his name and I am sure the BSF General will secure DGs commendation card for this gallant act.I read your article on the two land forces with some interest. There are some factual inaccuracies and methodology related issues that I would like to draw your kind attention to. First of all the table showing the police and the Army strengths is completely flawed. Are there only 9 officers in the Armed Forces of PB-4 grade and above? By my count there are about 750 officers of Brigadier rank and above in the Army alone. Correspondingly, the no of DIG rank and above officers in the IPS is about 1500. Considering that by your admission there are twice as many men under the police having twice as many senior officers would not be entirely out of place. Second, your vacancy position is also flawed, in the IPS too as 01/01/09 and I am quoting from the MHA's website, against an authorised strength of 3889 there are 3332 officers available, a shortfall of over 15%. Not as much as the Army but significant nonetheless. Third your comparison of a division with UP Police is flawed. A division level formation is about 20,000 men. The UP police today has a sanctioned strength of over 3,00,000. The two are not comparable in any way. And the no of sanctioned DG level posts in the government of India, including deputation reserves etc are well under 100 and not 300. Soldiers love to comment on the incompetence of the police, should we talk in the same manner about Kargil when criminal negligence by the Army formations on the ground allowed the Pakistanis to infiltrate and occupy our positions and then regaining our own territory with considerable American pressure was proclaimed as a great victory? All institutions have their strengths and weaknesses and this display of contempt and condescension by our soldiers for civilian institutions is completely uncalled for. You dared us to name a general who was a zealot, perhaps you have heard the name of General Shahbeg Singh who was killed leading the terrorists in Operation Bluestar? Colonel Purohit, recently arrested by the Maharashtra ATS is another case in point. The point is that like the civil services the Armed Forces have their black sheep too, only they are better hidden from the public gaze under the guise of national security. Your point about absorbing sidelined military personnel in the CPOs reflects a parochial mindset. How would you feel if we suggested that all those rejected in the UPSC interview were given a commission in the Army to make up for your shortfall of officers? Resettlement of young soldiers is an area of concern, but please try to see the merit in the argument that the skills and orientation required for soldiering and policing, despite the superficial similarities of uniform, may in fact be quite different. In today's world, the Police are a well established and well recognized a profession as the Armed Forces with their unique requiremnts of training, porfessional skills and orientation. The point dear sir is that we in the civil services have our professional pride too. We don't pretend we can do your job better than you and it would be nice if for a change serving and retired soldiers were gracious enough to return this courtesy. The Army has the structure it does for its own internal operational logic. You have a battalion with 20 odd officers. In a police district, there are seldom more than 2 or three IPS officers. The Armed Forces are welcome to shift to a four tier system of entry to ensure that a few thousand officers in the fast track would have promotion prospects similar to the IPS and the IAS. How that would impact your organization and operational efficiency is for you to assess. The IAS/IPS are the top executive cadre of the civil services while in the Armed Forces the officer cadre performs the whole gamut of managerial functions from platoon level upwards. You can't compare the much larger top half of a two tier pyramid with the much smaller top level of a four tier pyramid. The Colonel of 20 years service may feel reluctant in being courteous to a DIG on only 14 years of service. But please consider the fact that the DIG may be a product of IIT/IIM, and he is responsible for a division consisting of three to four districts and a population in excess of four-five million. Length of service may be an absolute value in the Armed Forces but it is quite strange to expect that civil institutions can be structured in such rigid terms. Your prescription for tackling the terrorist menace flies in the face of historical experience. Tactical prowess of the kind the military excels in is of course required to combat specific instances of terror but it needs strategic leadership and good governance too something that is best left to civilians. The experience of terrorism in Punjab, where it was the inspiring leadership of two IPS officers, Shri Ribeiro and Shri Gill that turned the tide, is a case in point. If terrorism could be countered by military might alone the Kashmir Valley and the North-east would have been silent a long ago. No right minded civil servant in the IAS/IPS would deny that the civil services really need to get their act together and start performing. Corruption and incompetence in our services are a serious cause for concern. But at the same time one has to appreciate the enormous pressures and constraints faced by today's civil servants. The police population ratio in India is far below international norms, we have meagre resources for training. Welfare of our men is much neglected. But if we talk about improving the pay and working conditions of our police forces and this will be opposed by the Armed Forces because in 1935 a captain of the Army was the SSP of a district, then I think meaningful police reforms will always be held hostage to the izzat and iqbal of the Armed Forces. You express contempt at the fact that the Army is often requested to assist civil authorities for a whole range of situations. The nation invests roughly three times as many resources in its Armed Forces each year as it does on the police and the Armed Forces are the only insititution that has the specialized equipment and the trained manpower to deal with such requests. The Armed Forces are not doing anyone a favour by responding to such requests. This is very much a part of their duties in democratic societies and to suggest otherwise shows a feudal/colonial mindest. Even in the US the Armed Forces are routinely called out to assist in relief and rescue after major natural disasters/accidents . The Armed Forces are an institution every Indian is justifiably proud of. Your professionalism, your sense of dedication, your discipline are something worth admiring and emulating. But of late the kind of comments that have come out of our soldiers are biased, ill-informed and display a shocking lack of perspective about the challenges facing our country. warm regards Abhinav Kumar-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Here is what has been written by another IPS/IASi am forwarding this mail for the knowledge of all the army officers who are short on facts and rely more on hearsay..pls have patience to read it. regards. For the past two years, officers of the Defense Forces of India have been undertaking a co-ordinated campaign to circulate publically articles featuring their case for a better deal in their pay scales. The main thrust has been led by the army officers. The writers are retired army officers, working either singularly or under various wraps of NGOs. Most of these NGOs are created or funded by the Army Headquarters and some of them created under the general umbrella of the MoD but not for the promotion of pay packets but for other more relevent issues. The campaign is well coordinated, and cannot be read in isolation. When one writer contributes a paper to the newspaper, after a gap in time, another officer writer takes over the cause. The strategy is that readers must not be allowed to forget that there is an Indian army with a lost cause on pay matters. That writers from the other two wings of the defense forces are so scanty in their presence, reveals that the army officers as a block have been assigned their tasks from within the ranks of the active service officers to plead their case. They are being provided with arguments and information from within the active ranks. Data which does not favour them, is quietly kept back and the picture that emerges is that army officers have been given a bad deal by the Government of India, their rightful case has been ignored and the faithful army still remains loyal to the government inspite of all the injuries heaped upon the Services. In all righteousness the Central Government has in the past preferred to keep silent against all the rag-tag provocations provided to it, allowing the institutional organisations to take up the matters of revision of scales of pay and other perks through discussions, presentations and proper channel. Such graces unfortunately have not been preferred by army officers,who in the past have believed thatif a push is required, give a shove. In the proceedings of the Fourth Pay Commission the Inter Defense Pay Committee decided to seek the then novel scheme of long scales with rank pay. The recomendadtions were taken in a delegation to the Chairman of the Pay Commission, Justice Singhal, and led by the Minister Arun Singh. Justice Singhal was told that the Commission should accept these recomendations in toto and integrated them into the main final Report. He was told that these recomendations had the consent of the Prime Minister and did not require further discussion. The bluff was, that the PM was not even aware of this project. Once the recomendations were accepted without discussion, it was found that the project had its inherent failings, and efforts were then made to wriggle out of the scheme. Ten years past by to water down the effects of this blunder. The Fifth Pay Commission also went past and the army officers accepted their boosted pays with some murmer, but when it was time for the arrival of the Six Pay Commission, the officers planned a campaign much ahead of time. They pulled out a new war book, prepared campaigns targetting issues which other services may conjure up while pleading their own cases. These officers then started a bombardment to soften up their battleline shores. The main 'enemy of the people' was the IAS lobby to start with; the focus was also the group of IAS officers who were posted in the MoD and the Min of Fin. For a considerable time this campaign of disinformation was carried out brazenly countrywide. It did not have the desired effect and the Pay Commission issued its Reort to the great dislike of these officers. The three Service chiefs were goaded to protest and the Navy Chief also decided to act in the grey zone of mutinous conduct. A weak governemt failed to descipline him. The recomendations were reviewed and modified. It was a bad precedence. We laid back with the hope that now peace will prevail. How badly this was underestimated, is now revealed. The devil is not asleep. It keeps vigil in the Messes spread nationwide and we now have a new string of writings coming up again into public circulation which need to be noticed. To the great glee of serving army officers, and their reading pleasure, the latest of such articles was put in circulation coming from the pen of a relatively unknown soldier, namely Major General Surjit Singh PVSM, VSM. He floated his article on the internet(and maybe put it also in some erudite journal) on 26th March 2009. This article was not supposed to enter the civilian circuit, but the article was so warped in its presentation, that as a show of proof of disinformation, it came to be shared outside the defense circles. Woe be to Major General Surjit Singh now. He though he was being orginal in not taking on the IAS lobby. Instead he has put his hand and head both into a nest of wasps--namely the Indian Police Service and its other subordinate ranks. This article after its journey has now come to me for my reading. I have preferred to reply to this long note sentence by sentence so that anyone not familier with the orginal article, does not stand to loose on the various issues on record. It is hoped the original writer will have the pateince to read my note with his evening 'chota' and have the forebearance to rewrite his own original essay. I consider myself a bit qualified for this job. I have been associated in one or the other capacity with the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and also the 6th Pay Commission. Probably the only officer with this distinction. Within my own Service, I have not been known to be the most courtious of officer, but be brash, blunt and no respector of ranks when there was a cause to fight. In taking up the issues of the orginal writer I will henceforth refer to him by his filial name of Surjit. It is short and sweet and occupies only a corner of the line in my typing machine. I offer my profound apologies to any reader who feels offended with what I need to present. There is nothing personal. It is just that Surjit has put his hand into a nest of wasps, and so he is entitled to be stung!!! Quote" If India is united and intact today, it is because of its military...I dare you to name a colonel or a general who is either communal or a zealot." Unquote. It is very modest of Surjit to put such a small number of required names for an answer, namely "a" . But we will start from the beginning. Surjit is wrong in his statement that it is the military which has kept the nation united. The case is true for Pakistan, and not India. The so called steel frame of bureaucrasy has been the IAS-IPS and some major Central Services whose contribution to keep India united far out weighs the contribution of the 'military'. I am not speaking thus because I am one of the has beens. Experts woldwide when they have commented on the affairs of South Asian nations, have acknowledged this fact. It is the civil services of the country which have also protected the defense forces from unwanted attacks to spread dissentions within the ranks, and a big contribution has come from our intelligence services. We have enemies who have attempted to target the defense forces to act outside their discipled living and working. But to be fair to the Forces, they have in the past acted in some ways which could have brought populations to spin out of the Indian nation. Two examples should suffice, Nagaland and Sikkim. Sikkim was hurt first in a short spell when it was brought into the Union and the army was deployed to quell protest. The strong arm tactics used nearly helped our enemies to get a rebellion successful. Nagaland troubles are the making of army mishandling. The people have neen known to be freedom loving, but so do all others living elsewhere. In Nagaland's case the army handling was such which left much to be done. Even today the sense of alienation felt locally is charectorised by anti army conduct. No sir, India's internal problems have been taken care of by its bureaucrasy excluding the military. The military has taken care of India's international borders and only moderately successful at that. Surjit wants us to name only one colonel and one general in seperate categories. Of course, our lists in both the categories run into pages. But to freshen up Surjit's memory, we have Colonel Purohit and General Shahbeg Singh which fill the required number. And what about General Massih for stealing the affection of a junior officer's wife. Surjit, you should not have started this debate unless you had the help of an archive of recorded deeds. Quote" On Republic Day, as they march down the Rajpath, the lay Indian cannot tell between the Army and the Police....their swords, rifles and even badges of ranks are similar... the Commission recomended that a lot could be achieved if soldiers retiring from the Army laterally shifted to the police force".Unquote. The Indian Police force was historically created out of the existing Indian Army. The civilian police force was given the same ranks as of the army because they were laterally shifted in 1861-63 to create the police force. All military traditions were transferred Even after 150 years of seperate identities, the rural population of the States of UP. Bihar and MP refer the rank of Supdt. of Police, as 'Kaptan sahib' following the order when army officers holding the ranks of Captains were sent out on deputation into civilian duties with the local police forces. To facilitate this lateral transfer, since the army captains were deficient in their education being only High School or Senior Cambridge pass, the orginal inductions in civil police forces were also kept as Matric and SC pass. It was only after Independence that the basic qualification for IPS was raised to Graduate degree. If the Commission was now recomending again a lateral transfer from Army to Police, Surjit and his friends have been vocally protesting. Today even the Indian Police does not want the concept of lateral transfer of Army officers into police ranks. Officers coming from the defense forces will face the full blast of the hot winds of civilian working, and end up to grieve their situations. This is a lessson learnt also when ECOs have been moving today who finally end up requiring the protection of their civilian colleagues when they find the Armed battalion postings more conducive to their working. We agree with Surjit that there need not be lateral postings, and because MHA has agreed with us, Surjit need not plead on this cause henceforth. His point is taken. Surjit is still wrong that the "lay Indian cannot tell the difference between the Army and police personnel on parade". The distinction is well marked nowadays. First the Defense force contingents come first in the order of marching. Their weaponery is different. Their uniforms are different. They march more sloppily then the police contingents. Originally there was only one marching contingent trophy. When this trophy was consecutively won by marching police contingents, a seperate trophy was added seperating the recognition for defence contingents and police contingents. The army contingents are essentially collected for the Army Day celebrations prededing the Republic Day. AGCR objects to high expenses for R Day, but Government has allocated approved expenditure for Formation day celebrations. Thus the AHQ is able to show that R-Day arrangements are less expensive to the government. Surjit has laid a table to show there is great difference in the formations of the defense forces and police in the counrty. I do not find his sourse of data, but he is wide off the mark. May be it suited him to keep the realistic data under cover, otherwise how could he give his presentation to us stupid folks! According to his table, there are 9 officers in the army above PB4 grade, while the police has over 250 officers. This is the Brigagier's rank. Both numbers are wrong. The army formations have more than 790 officers in the rank of Brigadiers, while in the all India system of the Police, this number is closer to 1500 persons. Surjit lost himself in a "typo" Again in the figures of annual intake of officers, he shows 1050 regulars, while indicates 60 for IPS. He is wide off the mark. His army data is an approx. while for IPS it should read 38 IPS average per year. Because of the poor intake of IPS officers for political reasons ( essentially to break the all India charector of the service), there is a standing vacancy of 568 officers to be urgently filled up to provide manpower to Central Government police jobs. In the column for Defficiency in officers, Surjit is showing 11500 vacancies, which is what is being touted by AHQ officially. In the POLICE HE SHOWS NIL VACANCIES. Suits his case, but this is patent falsehood. We have shown the vacancy for IPS officers. The all India picture for State police services is closer to 6500 vacancies in officer ranks and 149,000 in other lower ranks. Bihar Police alone has 40,000 vacancies in its ranks. The same is the fate of other datas left in the diagram. Surjit is bent on distorting data to put his case. My advise is: Do not pick on the police for your woes. In the matter of levels of entry, Surjit submits that in the Army there are two levels of induction, at officers and as enlisted men. In the police he informs the entry is at four levels, as constable, as inspectors, subordinate service cadre and the IPS. Wrong again. Entry into the Army comes from different selection processes. At the officer level, there is the regular SSC, then again the ECO level, then subordinate service level for specialist assignments and finally the direct selection for enlisted soldiers. In the police services, it is the IPS, then the State service cadres GOs, then SI/ASI level, then HC clerks and finally the ordinary constables rank. In stating these levels it is not understood what was the writer trying to suggest. Is this discrimination? In Promotion Prospects and Terms of Engagement. Surjit launches himself with a wrong statement." All police personnel retire at the age of 60 years". In Kerala, all police personal retire at the age of 55 years. In Nagaland and in Para Military organisations, officers upto the rank of DIGs retire at the age of 57 years . All State police personnel generally retire at the age of 58 years. IPS officers and those officers holding rank of IGPs retire at the age of 60 years. They number less than 90 retirements per year nationwide. Wrong again Surjit when you say that all IPS officers retire at the level of DGPs. Most of the IPS rank officers cross the DIG level, many also cross the IPG level, Most of the IPS officers crawl to the rank of Addl. DGs and only very few, which is 5 to 8 percent of the individual cadres, retire holding the rank of DGs. Only one person will be the State DGP having all State magisterial powers! Right now the Army as 54 similar ranking officers. So who should be complaining. The argument on promotional opportunities stated, is also full of holes. The army trains its officers to primarily lead the battalion formations. In the police services, the officer cadre is trained to head the District administration. The District SP should be holding this charge for an average of 16 years and see an averge of three transfer. But this is not the reality today. I know an extreme case of an IPS officer being transferred 17 times in 91 days, and he was NO crook infact one of most upright officers in his state cadre. Being transferred six or seven times in ten years for a field officer today is the norm. So Surjit do not eye the pastures across the fence. The situation is far worst here then in your grounds. Surjit has a complaint on cadre management. So do we. But over the years I have come to realise that nowhere in the world is there an ideal system to governance, and in India, we seem to be better off even with all the infirmities. Comparisons with the army and police are impracticable and there is no meeting point since the roles are different, the clients are different and the enemies are different. Surjit is again on a weak wicket on Leader-Led ratio. Using untested hearsay evidence he marches into a bush!. He says there are 400 officers in UP police and half of them are at least in the rank of DIGs and there are about 20 officers in the rank of DGs.Surjit is right in this information he uses, but what he hides is the fact that UP Police also has about 3,00,000 personnel sanctioned by the government. This officers strength is correct. The strength of higher ranks also includes duties which are missing in the Army and there cannot be any fair claim on parity. Now Surjit shows a really ego problem on record. He finds fault with his men going to the rescue of Prince trapped in a borehole. Here he should complaint to his bosses, to say no to to such silly civilian requests. May be Surjit would have a different say had he been facing the cameras and talking to the press when this small operation was on. Someone else in the Military stole the thunder ! Surjit does not know that a Head Constable is operationally equal in status to a DGP, because both in law can open fire without the need for an magistrate around if the situation demands. The HC is a 'senior officer' in the police force. If the army finds the rank situation intolarable, then they should not attend meetings and depute officers of such ranks who can take decisions on behalf of their department on the spot. This does not happen unfortunately. As for terrorisat attacks, and riots incidents when army help is sought. This is essentially a case of the missing higher fire power. By design, the MoD has directed the government on the advise of the Military not to provide equal fire power to the police forces. This is a tactical move and Surjit is unaware. But we are. Para military forces get the obsolete fire power discarded by the Army for their use. The debate on INSAS rifles being given to the police is long and glorious. Worst is the case of AK 54 weapons coming to the police. The Army by design has kept an upper hand for itself and Surjit need not complaint on this call of duty. The Police would love to see the Army stay at the Border, but then at its own terms. The police is kept weak by design, and not by fault. Surjit questions: What impels Police to turn to the Army for help? The answer according to Surjit is better leadership qualities. Wrong Surjit. The police lacks resourses, denied by the Army to it. Man to man there is no difference in leadership. In civilian situations the police leadership has repeated trimphed over Army leadership, and the most glaring example of failed army leadership was the Golden Temple seige. It was only the police that trimphed finally and without shedding a drop of blood. We do not grudge the battles that the Army has fought but the secret is that that second rung defense units triumped in war where the front line units collapsed. The Kargil war is a well kept secret of first desperation and then truimph in battle. But the best man was not recognised here. So let us not talk of leadership, because there are many issues involved in this. On Caste and Community factors, Surjit states that Police serves political ends. In riots, police has run away or joined the mob. If the army can control the mob, it is because of superior fire power which is known to the mob. Police are armed with sticks. This is well known, so this cannot be held against the police which first is already outnumbered by very thin presence, and again poorly equipped to handle mob frenzy. Incidently police in India is not special in this situation. Worldwide, the national guards and the armed forces are called in for short spells by civilian authorities against organised agitation, revolutions and mob frenzy. It is not an issue for pay revision. Surjit is in his element best for his contempt of the police force in the paragraph on the image of the police in India. I am wondering how a police image is involved in matters of the 6th Pay Commission and the case for the Army. The people get the police they deserve and they also get their army they deserve. Surjit ends his ditribe against the police by taking on the Paramilitary organisations. He does not want competition but cooperation. Surjit has perhaps little field experience working with the paramilitary units of the government. Units of BSF, CRPF have for decades been working under army commands. ITBP forces have been working in cooperation and not under the command of the Army. There has been no competition, but in joint operations it has been found and the AHQ accepts that the ITBP is a better force than the army unit when they have performed togather in inclement zones. As for corruption, the army and the police are brothers at arms. It is a matter of where one is working. At the border, the army also helps itself as the police does in its own area of operations. Surjit attempts to being cynical and falls flat when he redicules the police force for not being able to provide security to the cricket IPL. What perhaps has not been told to Surjit was the fact that the Taliban had laid out allegedly a major plan to cause major incidents, similar to the Bombay episode involving players and people togather. IPL can wait for another season. But then that is how gentlmen in the army think! Gautam Kaul, India