Taking 'work' from 'thieves'

While it is almost impossible to get an FIR filed in Madhya Pradesh, BJP politicians know how to get the state police to do their bidding

By N D Sharma

The fact that corruption is so endemic in the Madhya Pradesh police that it is not possible to get a First Information Report (FIR) lodged without bribing the thanedar is an observation that has been made not by an aggrieved citizen but by Director General of Police (DGP) A R Pawar. His view was endorsed by Minister of State for Home Nagendra Singh. But the minister added in his party's defence that the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders knew "how to take work from thieves" (meaning the police).

It was an FIR that had catapulted Pawar to the post of the state police chief. An Indore citizen had gone to the court with a complaint that (then) DGP Swaraj Puri had "fraudulently" had his son admitted to a prestigious engineering college in the non-resident Indian quota. The court directed the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the state police to hold an inquiry.

Pawar was then heading the EOW. While Puri is considered close to veteran Congress leader Arjun Singh, Pawar is known for his proximity to the Sangh Parivar. So, apparently with permission from Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Pawar promptly registered an FIR against Puri, purportedly at the direction of the Indore court, and in no time replaced Puri, who was shunted off as director general of the Home Guards. A few days later the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court quashed the FIR, observing that the lower court had only asked for the holding of an inquiry.

What sort of "work" the BJP leaders are taking from "thieves" cannot, naturally, be found in the official records, except when there is an aberration. The thanedar of Nohta police station (in Damoh district) provided us a glimpse of that "work" by moving the Madhya Pradesh high court at Jabalpur. Thanedar H R Pande was transferred from Tikamgarh district to Damoh district and posted at Nohta, where the local BJP Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Dashrath Singh Lodhi, wanted to "take work" from this "thief". The problem arose when Pande refused to oblige. The MLA then wrote to Agriculture Minister Gopal Bhargava, who is in charge of Damoh district, seeking the transfer of the recalcitrant thanedar. Pawar ordered his transfer to Chhatarpur district within a fortnight. Pande had been at the Nohta police station a mere seven months.

Here is the gist of Lodhi's letter (translated from the Hindi) to Bhargava. It forms part of the Court proceedings, and amply explains the "work" Lodhi wanted Pande to do: "Nohta police station in-charge H R Pande is not doing anything in the interest of the party; he is taking action against BJP workers even against my asking him not to do so; he is not providing any financial help to the party and is not looking after the interests of the party. So kindly get some other thanedar posted here in the party's larger interest."

Justice Arun Mishra of the high court stayed Pande's transfer and issued notices to the parties concerned, observing that such a letter could not "be tolerated even for a moment". More about the BJP's highhandedness: Pawar was holding a meeting of police officers at the district police chief's office in Indore while some Hindutva activists were simultaneously holding a demonstration outside, demanding transfer of a deputy superintendent of police whose functioning they did not approve of. A five-member delegation of the protestors was invited by the DGP to discuss the matter. While the discussions were taking place inside, some of the protestors bashed up Subedar Sunil Dixit, who had asked them to clear the road for vehicular traffic. Even as the subedar was narrating the incident to media persons, Additional Superintendent of Police Manoj Shrivastava rushed there and advised Dixit to file an FIR if he was feeling so aggrieved.

In another inexplicable incident, the Jabalpur high court was to announce its verdict on two notorious criminals, one of whom was subsequently sentenced to death and the other to life imprisonment. There was heavy security in and around the high court building. Both criminals, escorted by police, were present in the court. Even as the judge was reading out the verdict, the two criminals walked out of the courtroom, reportedly took a private transport, and "escaped".