The Jharkhand Police has filed a criminal case of sedition against Jharkhand Policemen’s Association (JPMA) president Ramchandra Pandey and 11 other policemen for allegedly indulging in unlawful acts amounting to rebellion against police authorities during their recent five-day agitation.Police sources said that the FIR registered by Sergeant Major Anand Shanker of Ranchi Police Lines at Gonda Police Station late last night alleged that the agitating policemen broke the law themselves and provoked the constabulary to follow them.The FIR said that the holding of demonstrations by brandishing guns and rifles, shouting slogans against the police top brass, holding meetings at Police Line to chalk out strategies to paralyse functioning of the government and proceeding on a five-day leave en masse without the approval of the concerned authorities did not only smack of indiscipline but also pointed to an armed rebellion against the state government.The FIR was filed mainly on the basis of information gathered from video tapes, photographs and newspaper reports related to statements and activities of the policemen during their five-day strike from February 20 to 25. JPMA president Pandey, along with Abhimanyu Singh Yadav, Laxmi Paswan, Sachidanand Sharma, Mahadeo Yadav, Nagendra Dubey, Alamgir Khan, Ravindra Sharma, D.N. Tiwari, Ramchandra Singh, Ashok Singh and Mantu Paswan, were booked under various sections of the IPC. Some sections are non-bailable, sources said.Even before the agitation ended on February 25, seven of the policemen, including Pandey, were dismissed from service on several charges. ‘‘We want to make it clear that indiscipline will not be tolerated and nobody will be allowed to take the law into his or her own hands,’’ DGP R.R. Prasad said.‘‘We will investigate the case and if we have enough evidence to prove their (the policemen’s) guilt, they will be prosecuted,’’ said Ranchi SSP M.V. Rao.Asked what the JPMA plans to do now, Pandey said: ‘‘We hope the Chief Minister will look into our case. If he does nothing, we will do whatever we deem fit.’’
