Courage, thy name is IG

OUR BUREAU


Feb. 20: Bengal police have blackened their own face, leaving the chief minister with little option but to pick up the broom.

An officer as senior as a special inspector-general of police today sought refuge behind a veil of black cloth and appeared before the media to blame a junior officer over the Maoist massacre of policemen in Shilda.

“I had repeatedly told the superintendent of police about the poor infrastructure at the camp and the need to shift it to a better place. But he paid no heed…. The EFR personnel could not retaliate properly because many civilians could have died,” Eastern Frontier Rifles special inspector-general Benoy Chakraborty said.

That the location of the camp hampered the policemen is no secret. But never before has a police boss appeared in public the way Chakraborty did — apparently to ensure that the Maoists did not recognise him when he ventured out — and rarely has such a senior officer spoken out in public against an officer lower in rank.

Television channels across the country beamed the masked face, below which his uniform and EFR epaulettes were visible, drawing sniggers and making the police leadership look ridiculous, especially in the wake of the Shilda fiasco.

Late tonight, sources close to chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who was in Birbhum during the day, said he had decided to take action against Chakraborty.

The first step is expected to be suspension. “An IPS officer cannot be suspended at night. Besides, the papers need the signature of the home minister (in this case the chief minister as he holds the home portfolio, too). Otherwise, action would have been taken this evening itself,” a source said.

Senior officers said they were not aware of any formal orders to take action against Chakraborty but they also conceded that punishment appeared unavoidable.

The EFR special IG’s accusation came soon after another blame game over Monday’s massacre of 24 EFR policemen. Yesterday, Bengal police chief Bhupinder Singh had exploded in anger after the home secretary’s statement that he had intelligence regarding a rebel build-up near the camp. The home secretary today sought to downplay that incident.

But the special IG opened another flank in West Midnapore. Sitting in his office at the EFR headquarters in Salua, near Kharagpur, Chakraborty said the camp was set up “unprofessionally in a crowded place, making it extremely difficult” for EFR personnel to function.

“CRP jawans came here to stay a few months ago, but they left the camp the next day because of the unprofessional location of the camp,” added the officer, his eyes visible above the black cloth.

With a black bandana complementing the veil, Chakraborty said that though he had visited EFR camps in Bankura and Purulia, he couldn’t go to a single one in West Midnapore as “the SP did not spare the time” to accompany him.

West Midnapore SP Manoj Verma refused to comment but some senior officers took exception to Chakraborty’s outburst.

“Why did he need the SP to accompany him to visit the EFR camps?” asked one. “He could have done it on his own. What stopped him?”

Chakraborty also accused the district police of not being “bothered” about how the EFR policemen were living in the camp in a hostile terrain. “Our EFR personnel are the best force in Bengal, but they have been misused in an unprofessional manner,” he said.

Despite the drawbacks, Chakraborty said, his men had managed to kill five of the attackers. “I feel proud of them, they fought bravely,” he said.

The sources said the chief minister and other senior officials had found three grounds to act against Chakraborty.

One, the IG was wrong in claiming that the SP had to accompany him. Two, no officer can blame a junior in public. Three, it was unbecoming of an IG to hide behind a veil as he is not an undercover officer.


Have you seen such a sight?
We have heard of criminals hiding from the police but here we have an officer of the rank of IG hiding his face so that the Maoist do not see his face and attack him.
Such is the situation in Bengal has landed after 40 years of uinterruped rule by the Left Front and CPM.
The CPM has reduced the police force to a wing of the party which is used to only put down the opposition. No qualification was required to join the police force only you have to be a supporter of the party.
They did not have to undergo any training. Only training given was to stand outside the rooms of Ministers and see that the common man did not come very near them. For Jyoti Basu, the distance was 100 metres. Nobody was allowed to go within 100 meters of his house.HE WAS THE ULTIMATE PEOPLE'S LEADER.
We have been seeing the result.
Outside the American Embassy they ran away with tails between legs to save their skins when it was attacked.
In Lalgarh they could not enter until the central forces came.
Now in Shilda, where they were massacred like sitting ducks with their pants down.
And to top it all, this interview of the top police officer of the state, wearing a protective cover to hide his face.
It is not the IG who should resign but the government of Buddhadev Bhattacharya who have reduced the police to such a pitiable state.