Sandhu suicide, Punjab govt deals with police excess?
Sekhar Ramakrishnan
[from the Hindu. sekhar]
Punjab police officer found dead
CHANDIGARH, May 23.
The body of the controversial former chief of the Tarn Taran district
police, Ajit Singh Sandhu, was recovered from a railway track near
Bhakharpur village about 30 km from here this afternoon.
The Director General of Police (DGP) of Punjab, Mr. P. C. Dogra,
while ruling out foul play, said Mr. Sandhu had committed suicide by
throwing himself before a train on the Chandigarh Ambala line. He
said a suicide note had been recovered from the spot. Mr. Sandhu's
body was cut into two pieces from near the navel region.
The driver of a train from Chandigarh spotted the body on the track
and informed the authorities at the Lalru station at about 12 noon.
Witnesses said a Contessa car belonging to Sandhu was parked nearby
and the suicide note written in Punjabi recovered from the spot said,
Zalalat di zindagi jeen nalon mar jana hi changa hai (It is better to
die than live a life of humiliation).
According to his family sources, Sandhu left his residence at about
10 a.m. saying he would be back within half an hour after attending
to some important work. Sandhu, who has been on the top of the hit
list of militants was heavily guarded. But, today he preferred to go
alone surprising his security personnel. He is survived by his wife,
two daughters and a son.
Sandhu, who on directions from the Supreme Court, was arrested last
year for his alleged involvement in the disappearance of some youths
including the human rights activist, Jaswant Singh Khalra, was
released on bail this year. Ever since his release, Sandhu is said to
have been suffering from acute depression and had started to remain
aloof from his regular social circle of friends and relatives.
Sandhu was Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in the districts of
Kapurthala, Sangrur, Ropar and Tarn Taran, was promoted from lower
ranks by the then Punjab police chief, Mr. K. P. S. Gill, in
appreciation of his achievements in dealing with militants in Tarn
Taran district.
As SSP of Tarn Taran, Sandhu accounted for the gunning down of many
terrorists including the dreaded Panthic Committee chief, Gurbachan
Singh Manochahal, Surjit Singh Behla and Harjinder Singh Pehlawan. He
was known for leading his men in anti-militant operations from the
front. People still recall his daredevil feat when he was stuck on
the rooftop of a ``haveli'' in Behla village for more than 36 hours
during an encounter with militants.
Sandhu later attracted media attention when his name figured in
various instances of police excesses committed while combating
terrorists. His name also figured in the infamous cremation case,
where a large number of bodies, said to be those of unidentified
terrorists, were cremated in the border districts of Punjab. The case
was brought to light by Khalra before ``disappearing''. Sandhu was
also credited with nabbing top militants including the Khalistan
ideologues Bhai Kanwar Singh Dhami and Dr. Sohan Singh.
While Mr. Dogra said it was too early to say what impact Sandhu's
death could have on the police force, some other police officers,
said it would have an adverse effect on the morale of the force,
especially those officers who faced similar cases.
A young police officer said if the heroes of the days of terrorism
were thrown in the prison where they were beaten up by militants,
such incidents (suicides) were bound to happen. He was referring to
the incident when Sandhu was allegedly beaten up in the Amritsar jail
by a militant after the former was lodged there on the direction of
the Apex Court.
Gill calls for change of law to protect police
CHANDIGARH, May 24. The former Punjab Police Chief, Mr. K. P. S.
Gill, has warned that the suicide by a Senior Superintendent of Police
(SSP), Mr. Ajit Singh Sandhu, would have an adverse effect on
officers in different security forces currently engaged in
low-intensity conflicts with forces inimical to India.
Addressing reporters here today, Mr. Gill hoped that the incident
would act as a ``trigger'' to initiate an action by those at the helm
of affairs to devise a mechanism, which is sustainable in a court of
law, to ensure that the residual problem like those that followed
restoration of peace in Punjab are not repeated elsewhere.
Mr. Gill said a nation-wide debate was necessary to device an
apparatue to enforce law during Punjab-like situations, where police
officers, who contributed in the struggle against terrorism, were
being summoned based on a number of writ petitions filed in the
courts.
Mr. Gill said during his tenures as the Director General of Police in
Punjab, he reached numerous encounter sites while firing from both
sides was going on, but intriguingly nobody, not even owners of
houses where militants were holed up, would stand up as witnesses in
court to testify the exchange of fire. ``Now there are people who say
that those were fake encounters and ironically there is nobody to
prove whether an encounter took place except for the police records,''
he added.
Check on erring policemen
By Sarabjit Pandher
CHANDIGARH: If the recent tough stance adopted by the authorities is
any indicator, the just over 100 days old Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)
and BJP alliance Government in Punjab has given a clear signal down
the line that the high-handedness of the police would not be
tolerated.
Ever since the new Government took charge, reports continue to
trickle in regarding some action being initiated or taken against the
officers and personnel of the Punjab police for overstepping their
boundaries of authority, abusing position, torturing members of the
public and exhibiting high-handedness to settle personal disputes.
While such aberrations were simply ignored during the days of
terrorism in the State, the reaction from the people after the return
of normality is more pronounced . forcing the authorities to initiate
corrective measures. The people of the State, as well as the new
Government, have sought that the police force, which has become
accustomed to its high-handed approach to various issues, behaves in
accordance with the parameters of the law.
The State police chief, Mr. P. C. Dogra, says that he does not
believe in unnecessary interference in the day to day working of the
local police in various districts, but due to the changed
environment, an exercise has been undertaken to spot the notorious
police personnel, who are ``addicted'' to a high-handed behaviour.
``Those who are really bad hats need to be dealt with sternly to
effectively block them from harassing the public.''
According to him, after a series of strict decisions, a message has
gone down, especially to those in charge of the districts, to ensure
that nothing goes wrong. Such decisions have acted as warning signals
to the borderline cases and have been appreciated by the public at
large.
Mr. Dogra refuses to admit that these actions could demoralise the
police to face any future situation of emergency. Being harsh can be
justified when dealing with a situation ravaged by a high crime rate,
but to carry on being high-handed in peaceful times cannot be accepted
in a civilised and democratic system, he points out.
The pent-up feelings of the people against the alleged high-
handedness of the police officers was quite evident from the incident
when an Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Kulwant Singh Heer,
was gheraoed by the people in Ludhiana district this month. He had
allegedly used foul language and misused the local police to get the
members of his niece's husband beaten up.
Taking suo motu action on the reports in the local media, the DGP
ordered Mr. Heer to proceed on leave and instituted an inquiry by the
Additional DGP, Mr. S. K. Verma, who found the IGP guilty of the
offence. In view of the inquiry report, the DGP has recommended to
the State Government to chargesheet Mr. Heer under the All-India
Services (Conduct) Rules.
In another incident, a case was registered against the SP
(Operations), Mr. B. S. Gill for going out of the way to shield a
factory owner accused of murdering a worker. Charged with forging
documents, making false entries in the police record, tampering with
evidence and cheating, Mr. Gill has since obtained bail from the
court. An Additional DGP, Mr. D. S. Bhullar, is currently lodged in
the Patiala jail for his alleged involvement in a triple murder case
of the business partners of his son. The badly charred bodies of the
victims were recovered from a burnt car near Khanna in Ludhiana
district last year. The CBI, which has been probing the case, closed
in on Mr. Bhullar, who surrendered before the court on May 10 after
being denied anticipatory bail.
The State police chief this month also demoted a Deputy
Superintendent of Police, Mr. Kashmira Singh Bhinder, after an
inquiry by a senior police officer found him guilty of using blatant
force on innocent villagers, shop-keepers and children at the bus
stand of village Roori Kapura near Kot Kapura township of Faridkot
district. The DSP, who supsected the villagers to be involved in
eve-teasing, had forced all those present to slap each other
publicly.
An inspector, on deputation with the Punjab police, was repatriated
to his parent organisation (the Border Security Force) after his
alleged links with some smugglers in the border districts were
uncovered. The police are probing two incidents where security
personnel deployed on railway duty, allegedly looted passengers on
the Amritsar . Delhi route. In April, two Ludhiana police personnel
were booked for raping a woman. But the change in the police attitude
towards such incidents was noticed for the first time, when the DGP at
a press conference admitted that the police team of Tarn Taran
district had overstepped its brief in killing Kashmira Singh,
resident of a village near Hoshiarpur town. The deceased was picked
up from his residence after a scuffle and was suspected to have had
links with the militants. Three personnel of the team were arrested.