Yesterday’s heroes take a tumble from pedestal

The suicide of former Tarn Taran SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu has only strengthened their belief that the State simply does not care for them any more. Bitter and lonely, they are now waging a different war. Against the “indifference”, the “hypocrisy” of an “ungrateful” nation.

Some like Prakash Singh, who served as Inspector-General (IG), BSF, in Punjab in the late 80s and later went on to head different State police organisations which included Assam, make no secret of their feelings.

Responding to queries from The Indian Express, Singh said the manner in which men who fought militancy were being treated now “simply shows the ingratitude of a nation”.

He felt former Punjab Police chief KPS Gill was correct when he said the State must learn to protect those who put their lives at stake in the defence of the country’s unity and integrity.

“Gill is right when he questions those who are now critical of the methods used to contain militancy. Where were these people when attempts were being made to dismember the nation ? There were times when I, as an IG, used to wonder how we were going to keep Punjab within the Union,” Singh said.

“Whatever was done in Punjab to stamp out militancy was done with the full knowledge and approval — it may not have been vocal but was certainly tacit — of everyone from the Prime Minister downward.”

“The whole of India knew what was being done. I am not saying you should protect those who may have taken advantage of the situation to amass a fortune. But there were enough men who genuinely fought militancy and put to risk even the lives of their families. Given a situation, I would rather stamp out insurgency than wait for a human rights certificate from someone sitting in Washington,” Singh said.

He echoed Gill’s warning when he said “If this sort of treatment and victimisation continues, who will fight tomorrow if, God forbid, terrorism of the Punjab dimension makes a comeback elsewhere.”

A senior CRPF official, who has had his own share of counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency, was extremely critical of the “trial” in the Press. “There are times when a person, accused of excesses by some human rights lobby, is proved innocent at the end. But by then the damage is done. The man is more or less finished, sapped of all energy and the will to live.”

Punjab police chief P C Dogra, on his part, has tried to provide some words of reassurance in the wake of the Sandhu episode. In Chandigarh today, he said that he was committed to give total support to officers and men who acted in bonafide discharge of their duties in operations against militants in the State.

Recalling that the Punjab police, since 1993, had repeatedly sought a legislation to ensure protection to all police officers who were operating against militants, Dogra noted that over 2,500 writs had been filed in the courts against the State police.

Many retired police officers in the Punjab region do not favour the proposal that the law be amended to protect policemen for their role during militancy in the State. These officers feel that the law should take its course. Any blanket protection to the police, they say, will set a wrong precedent.

Former Haryana DGP S S Brar questioned how anybody could be given blanket protection from the law. “Police officers are answerable under the law for any wrongdoing.” He said what was needed was to grant opportunity of a fair inquiry and trial to police officers.

If an official, Brar observed, committed a mistake in the course of genuine performance of his duty and in the interest of maintaining law and order, it would stand out during the trial and such mistakes ought to be protected.

But some officers interviewed in Jalandhar felt that Sandhu’s death would demoralise the police. Former IG S S Bains, fearing a definite fall in morale among security forces after the incident, wanted to know where the human rights activists were during the turbulent phase of terrorism when policemen fought a lonely battle.

Former DGP of Jammu and Kashmir R D Dechen was all for careful handling of the issue. He agreed that anybody who violated human rights did not deserve protection but at the same time complaints against police officers who fought militancy should be carefully studied in view of the fact that they have done some service to the nation.

GUWAHATI: Demoralisation in the ranks, other officers warn, will set in if “this sort of abandonment” by the State continues. Former Assam DGP N N Changkakoti has even called for a nationwide debate on the issue.

“Policemen are victims of the wrong policies of the Government. It is the Government which encourages officers to adopt illegal means to achieve an end. And later the Government takes the credit for solving an issue, leaving the officers to face the music,” Changkakoti said, holding political bosses responsible for a negative police image.

Hiranya Kumar Bhattacharyya, a former IPS officer who was DIG (Border) during the Janata Party rule in Assam in 1978-80, narrates his own story.

“The Janata Party Government headed by Golap Borbora ordered me to embark on the exercise of identifying illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. But when the Government changed and the Congress under Syeda Anwara Taimur took over, I was victimised, placed under suspension and finally dismissed,” recalled Bhattacharyya who is now the vice-president of the Assam unit of the BJP.

From heroes to villains. From bouquets to brickbats. From fighting militancy to fighting court cases. This has been the story of some who were our very best until yesterday.