Karnataka DGP Shankar Bidaris past caught up with him on Friday when the Karnataka High Court upheld a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order striking down his appointment as the states police chief by laying emphasis on a National Human Rights Commission report that indicted him of atrocities on tribals during his much celebrated tenure with police operations to capture forest brigand Veerappan in the early 1990s. In his verdict,Justice N Kumar described the controversial DGP as being worse than Saddam Hussain or Muammar Gaddafi for the alleged atrocities committed by the special task force he headed in the 1990s to hunt smuggler Veerappan in the forests bordering Karnataka,Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Bidaris appointment as police chief by the BJP government was challenged by the more senior police officer A R Infant on the grounds that the Union Public Service Commission did not consider the NHRC report while empaneling Bidari to be a contender for the DGPs post. The CAT had earlier this month struck down Bidaris appointment,saying UPSC had erred in empaneling him and had ordered appointment of Infant as police chief. Bidari challenged the order in the High Court,which ruled Friday that the CAT ruling was a just one. The HC did not accept Bidaris argument that he was only the deputy commander of the STF when the alleged atrocities were committed and was not omnipresent and omnipotent like Saddam Hussain or Muammar Gaddafi. The HC,however,said that though he wasnt one of them,if what the two women (tribal victims of STF atrocities) have said affidavit is true,he is worse than them. The court has ordered Infants appointment as DGP. Bidari was presented a Presidents medal for gallantry on the last Republic Day for killing of a member of Veerappans gang in 1994.
