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Suicides by 2 IPS officers in 5 months rattles UP Police

Suicides by 2 IPS officers in 5 months rattles UP Police

Suicides by 2 IPS officers Rajesh Sahni and Surendra Kumar Das in 5 months rattles UP PoliceBy Mohit Dubey,

Lucknow : Suicides, between May and September, by two of its bright officers — one with the anti-terror squad (ATS) and the other posted as SP (East) in Kanpur — has rattled the Uttar Pradesh Police, one of the largest such forces in the country.

It also raises the question — as it does for other non-military forces around the nation — whether the men in khaki are overworked, stressed from having to meet unrealistic targets from political bosses and unable to balance their professional and personal lives.

Rajesh Sahni, a highly-decorated Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, posted as an Additional SP with the ATS, pulled the trigger on himself at his office in the upscale Gomtinagar neighbourhood of the state capital on May 29. Surendra Kumar Das, a 2014 batch IPS officer, swallowed an overdose of sulfa drugs on September 6 and died three days later. The reasons for taking the extreme step are not known yet, but colleagues say both were “stressed”, albeit for “different reasons”.

Director General of Police (DGP) O.P. Singh, who on September 8 visited the 30-year-old Das at a private hospital in Kanpur where he was battling for life, conceded that the force was in a “high level of stress”. While officers have for long been privately complaining of “heavy volume of work”, “endless work hours”, “ruined personal lives” and “demanding bosses”, the pressure on the police suddenly seems to have pushed people to the brink.

With the state government setting targets for the force so as to portray itself as a “different government which hounds out criminals”, a senior officer told IANS on condition of anonymity that “working was tougher than ever before”. The suicides were a fallout of such pressures, he added.

“The political class, past and present, fails to understand the situation on the ground and the difficulties we face… it is madly after results,” rues another SSP-level officer in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The desperation, be it personal or professional, “to get out of the rut even if it means dying” can be gauged from the fact that Das “Googled ways to die”, a colleague said.

Former DGP Vikram Singh, who served for three long years under a “tough and demanding Mayawati” also admited that high political stakes force policemen to get stressed. “The police, in any case, has been very overworked and growing crimes, shifting crime patterns and modus operandi add to our woes,” he added.

He regretted that owing to a host of issues like no holidays, lack of sleep, the sinking feeling of failure, public treatment of policemen with contempt, indifference of political bosses and almost no connect with superiors has led to an alarming fall in tolerance levels.

“We, as young officers, have worked with the likes of the legendary B.S. Bedi; they all were so connected and concerned about the well-being of their subordinate officers… sadly the joint family of police has broken,” Vikram Singh added.

Another former DGP, K.L. Gupta, said the police has become a “Draupadi” who is answerable to politicians, the public, RTI queries, courts and human rights activists.

“There certainly are forces that pull down one’s self-esteem and family discord is one reason for such steps,” he told IANS.

Brij Lal, another former DGP and currently chairman of the Uttar Pradesh SC/ST Commission, said he knows of many cases since 1981 when police officiers took the extreme step due to marital discord. He, however, added that the force was certainly overworked and needed solutions fast and quick.

Sri Ram Arun, another decorated and very respected former DGP, said that pulls and pressures in the police service “now-a-days is more than ever before”.

“There is political pressure from all sides; officers are transferred on a whim,” he maintained, adding that to sort out the mess, the policemen need to stand up against wrongs, and balance their personal and professional lives — while the political masters need to understand that “better policing can only be achieved through a better and cordial relationship with the police and its officers”.

Many serving officers IANS spoke to said they were concerned about the spate of such sad events and suggested that annual mental profiling, as is the case in police forces in many countries, and even in some para-military forces, was one way to prevent such incidents. They also felt that old-style policing and better camaraderie between the seniors and junior staff was a must as well, along with a certain improvement in working conditions.

(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)

—IANS

Former Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt arrested in 1996 case

Former Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt arrested in 1996 case

Sanjiv BhattAhmedabad : The CID Crime Branch of Gujarat Police on Wednesday arrested dismissed IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in a 1996 case relating to falsely framing a lawyer in a narcotics peddling case.

The CID picked up Bhatt and seven others, including two former police officers, following directives from the Gujarat High Court.

“Sanjiv Bhatt was initially detained for questioning and shortly after that he was arrested by CID while others are still under detention,” Director General of Police (CID) Ashish Bhatia said.

Going by the details of the case, lawyer Sumersingh Rajpurhoit was arrested by Bhatt in 1996 with a kg of drugs and booked in a case under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Bhatt was then serving as the District Superintendent of Police in Banaskantha district.

Police claimed that the drugs were found from the room of a hotel that was occupied by Rajpurohit. However, an investigation by Rajasthan Police later revealed that the lawyer was falsely implicated in the case.

This, Rajasthan Police claimed, was done to compel the lawyer to let go a disputed property at Pali district in Rajasthan.

The Rajasthan Police also claimed that Rajpurohit was abducted by Banaskantha Police from his residence at Pali.

Following this investigation, former Banaskantha Police Inspector I.B. Vyas moved the Gujarat High Court in 1999 demanding a detailed probe in to the incident.

The court in June handed over the probe to the CID and asked it to complete the investigation within three months.

Bhatt, who has been a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media platforms, has had several spats with the ruling establishment in the state since the 2002 communal riots.

In 2011, Bhatt even filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, accusing Modi of being complicit in the 2002 riots.

Bhatt was dismissed from the Indian Police Service in 2015 for “unauthorized absence” from service. Bhatt even met fasting Patel quota stir leader Hardik Patel last week and extend his support for Hardik’s cause.

“I have been fighting for justice for over two decades now and those responsible for my suffering have been arrested today,” lawyer Rajpurohit told reporters.

—IANS

NIA gets new chief in Y.C. Modi

NIA gets new chief in Y.C. Modi

NIA gets new chief in Y.C. ModiNew Delhi : Senior IPS officer Y.C. Modi, who was part of a Supreme Court-appointed probe team in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases, will be the new chief of the NIA.

The decision was taken on Monday by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet following a Home Ministry proposal.

Modi will succeed Sharad Kumar, who retires on October 30. The designate-Director General will be an Officer on Special Duty with the NIA with immediate effect to ensure a smooth takeover.

He will hold the post till his superannuation on May 31, 2021, according to an order from the Department of Personnel and Training.

A 1984 Assam-Meghalaya cadre IPS officer, Modi takes over the National Investigation Agency at a time when it is probing the funding of separatists and stone-pelters in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan-based terrorist groups.

He is currently Special Director with the CBI. He was appointed the Additional Director of the CBI in 2015.

Modi was a part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that probed the Gujarat riots cases in August 2010 and remained part of the team till July 2012.

The SIT had cleared Narendra Modi, who at that time was Gujarat’s Chief Minister, in the Gulbarg Society massacre case.

Sharad Kumar, an IPS officer of the 1979 batch of Haryana cadre, was appointed the NIA chief on July 30, 2013. He was given two extensions — the latest on October 23 last year.

—IANS