Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddharamaiah-led Congress government that is facing severe opposition from other political parties including BJP and JD(S) over the ‘crumbling law and order machinery in the State’ has another problem or call it ‘embarrassment’ to deal with. With elections round the corner, a senior IPS Officer is crying foul over political interference in the functioning of the Police Department. Citing the recent incidents of attacks on Lokayukta Justice P. Vishwanath Shetty, goondaism of Mohammad Nalapad Haris, son of Shanthinagar Congress MLA N.A. Haris and a Congress leader’s threat to torch Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) office at K.R. Puram in Bengaluru, the IPS Officer has said that law-breakers no longer fear the Police. In a letter to Chief Secretary K. Ratna Prabha, IPS Officers’ (Karnataka) Association President and Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Dr. Rajvir Pratap Sharma (R.P. Sharma) has expressed serious dismay over the state of affairs and has urged her to convene a meeting of all IPS Officers and some retired IPS Officers to discuss “threadbare and evolve a strategy considering our immediate goal of a fair and free election and long-term goal of imbibing strong professional values in the service and Police force of Karnataka." Stating that frequent interference by politicians and others had led to the public losing confidence in the Police, the letter, written on Mar. 8, said they had further demoralised the Police force. Sharma has, in his four-page letter, listed the recent attack on Lokayukta Justice P. Vishwanath Shetty, the attack by Mohammad Nalapad Haris on Vidvat Loganathan at a cafe at UB city in Bengaluru, the assault on IAS Officer and former Director-General of Administrative Training Institute (ATI) Mysuru V. Rashmi Mahesh and former Mysuru Deputy Commissioner C. Shikha and the attempt to set on fire to a BBMP Office by a Congress leader in Bengaluru as incidents of serious concern. “This indicates serious chinks in the armour of the security fabric,” he has stated in his letter. Conveying his serious displeasure over political interference in Police duties, Sharma said, “IPS Officers have been punished for discharging their duties, but during the meeting with you, I will bring to your notice many specific instances of recent past so as to demonstrate how Officers have been demoralised.” “Investigations have been hijacked by politicians in important cases and law-breakers have lost the fear of the Police. Again, I am not trying to be specific at the moment, but I will give specific instances to show that flow of the investigation was changed at political behest. The specialised agencies headed by senior IPS Officers have also become redundant on account of such interference,” Sharma has said in his letter. Opposing frequent transfers of Police Officers, Sharma has said, “The tenure has become a casualty and even the Bangalore City Police Commissioner’s post has been occupied by six officers in the last four-and-a-half years. Thus, the continuity, the command formation and, of course, the intrinsic confidence in the service members is at abysmally low levels,” Sharma has contended. “Senior IAS Officers and various common people are victims of these attacks in an environment which could be presumed very safe in normal circumstances. The Indian Police Service in Karnataka had a strong tradition, but today it is seen as a pale shadow of its past. Because of frequent transfers of IPS Officers, the continuity, command formation and, of course, the intrinsic confidence in service members, all is at an abysmally low level”, R.P. Sharma wrote. “The legacy to the next generation (is what) service leaders have to leave and I am extremely unsure that eccentric location of power, with loss of chain of command and, of course, declining sense of responsibility towards the common man besides day by day increasing loyalty to men in power for wrong reasons, is antithetical towards such a legacy,” he added.
It is his personal view, says CMO
