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No Taint Now !
Punjab bends rules to help guilty policemen
Gian Inder Singh
 CHANDIGARH:
Gurcharan Singh has died. Gurcharan Singh who? The half-burnt
half-alive Gurcharan Singh. The man who spent 25 years after
becoming the victim of 1984 anti-Sikh massacre waiting for justice.
He watched Akali Dal and Congress governments come and go, he
watched the commissions of inquiry being appointed and wrapped up,
and he witnessed a world that cared no more.
But when last
heard of, Gurcharan Singh was fighting on the frontline trenches of
human rights. On February 19, he was again ready to appear in a
Delhi court, ready to say again that yes, he did see Congress leader
Sajjan Kumar, leading the bloody mobs.
After 25 years,
there was still an urgency to Gurcharan Singh's work schedule. Human
Rights were under attack, and he knew the battle must be kept up.
Even by the half-burnt, the half-alive, the bed ridden, the system's
rejects.
Men like
Gurcharan Singh shame the system, but what lessons have the
Punjab's
rulers derived from such battles being fought every day? Here's what
the Punjab Government achieved last week when you weren't watching
and the Gurcharan Singhs of the Sikh community were too busy
fighting on the front lines of human rights battles.
Faced with a
query from the Punjab and Haryana High Court about the postings of
police officials tainted with blood -- read, fake encounters,
illegal kidnappings, extortion, deaths in police custody, illegal
detentions etc -- the Punjab Government landed in a soup. It has
tainted police officials posted all over the state, and some in very
senior positions.
Unfortunately,
the Punjab Police Act, 2007 mandates that no police official facing
prosecution in a criminal case, or chargesheeted, or facing charges
of moral turpitude, can be posted on any sensitive post. The Akali
Dal government led by Parkash Singh Badal, himself no paragon of
human rights sensitivity, pulled out a little furry rabbit from the
hat: It simply changed the rules that were making it uncomfortable.
On Thursday, the
Punjab Government bent the rules with the impunity of an ogre, the
timing being significant since a case concerning posting of tainted
police officers at key posts despite facing criminal prosecution was
to come up for hearing on Friday in the High Court.
 Under
the newly amended rules, the Punjab government has granted immunity
to officers facing charges pertaining to crimes during the period of
militancy from holding key posts.
As per Sections
13 and 15 of the Punjab Police Act, tainted police officers can not
be posted on key posts. Bending the rules to favour a few senior
police officers, the Punjab government made an amendment in Sections
13 and 15 of the Punjab Police Act, 2007.
As per the
revised policy regarding transfers/posting of police officers, the
Director General of Police, Punjab, has been given the liberty to
post such ‘tainted’ police officers, who are facing criminal
prosecution for an offence committed during the period of militancy.
HR Chadha, IPS,
Additional Director General of Police, Administration,
Punjab,
filed the affidavit. Political experts in
Punjab see the
development as a crowning achievement of Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh
Badal who now lords over the Home Department. Without his signature,
the tainted police officers could not get a go ahead for any
posting.
"The Director
General of Police may make an exception for posting of such police
officer as key functionary in a police district if the officer is
facing criminal prosecution for an offence committed during period
of militancy in State of Punjab or has been convicted by a court for
such offence but the conviction has been stayed by the appellate
court," the new rules said.
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Overnight, Home Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal bent the rules that
prohibited cops guilty of crimes during militancy era from being
posted at sensitive places (Above: A collage of WSN reports on
human rights issues) |
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Having thus
removed the taint with poor-quality legal detergent, the emboldened
state government had the cheek to then deduce that “no police
personnel has been posted as an SHO in contravention” of provisions
of Section 13(2) of Punjab Police Act, 2007 which have been amended.
As per the
affidavit of Additional Director General (Administration) H.R.
Chadha, the government formulated the policy of posting officers on
Wednesday, submitted it to the High Court on Thursday, and was thus
relieved of the burden on Friday of facing any embarrassment in
respect of Section 15 of the Act.
The government
has admitted that six DSPs facing criminal prosecution for an
offence committed during militancy are working as key functionaries
in districts. Apart from this, six SPs posted as key functionaries
in a district were facing criminal prosecution for offences
committed during the period of militancy. The state government has,
however, not specified the period of militancy.
Former Advocate
General, Punjab, R S Cheema, said “Punjab has been governed by an
elected government after the militancy period. The timing of making
such an exception is extraneous. Why at this stage such an amendment
has been made? It seems that a particular objective is sought to be
achieved by the state. Moreover, if the government wants to pardon
such police officers, then it’s the government only which grants
sanction before prosecution of any police officer. It will be
difficult for any political government to justify such an action
which is not a legitimate exercise at all.”
Six SP rank
officers -- Dilbagh Singh (Amritsar Rural), Surinder Singh (Amritsar
City), Pritam Singh (Ludhiana Rural), Gurmit Singh (Ludhiana),
Ravinder Kumar Bakshi (Mohali) and Bhupinderjit Singh (Sangrur) --
are facing criminal prosecutions for offences committed during the
period of militancy in the state.
If only poor
Sajjan Kumar had friends with the sensitivity of a Sukhbir Badal or
the Punjab Police's idea of washing off taint with legal detergents
concocted in a matter of hours! Then we would have told Gurcharan
Singh that the killers of 1984 massacres are no more tainted, and
that he can die peacefully because things have been cleaned up with
powerful detergents. A quarter century of wait for justice, battle
for human rights, is a frustrating experience. Each one of the
victims' families who suffered at the hands of these police
officials is dying a million deaths every day at home. But our Home
is now guarded by taint-remover Sukhbir Badal.
With Papa
Parkash Singh Badal making Ramesh Inder Singh the Chief Secretary
and selected Sumedh Saini to head Vigilance Bureau, we were hardly
in any doubt about their ability to co-exist with the tainted ones,
but that they would lose all shame and manufacture taint-removers
was something that perhaps even Gurcharan Singh may not have
imagined. Good that he is no more to suffer. As for the rest of the
Gurcharan Singhs, we are doomed till the quom makes up its mind to
get rid of the taint.
18 February 2009
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