Godhra Riots: Gujarat govt gets HC nod to launch probe against former DGP Sreekumar
Sreekumar said that “state government is systematically
working to finish all the whistle blowers and I am the first whistle blower. I
am planning to move Supreme Court.”
In a setback to former Director General of Police (DGP) R B
Sreekumar, the Gujarat High Court on Friday allowed the state government to
initiate a departmental inquiry pending since 2005. The former IPS officer had
taken on the previous Gujarat government led by the then Chief Minister
Narendra Modi, now the Prime Minister, for 2002 post-Godhra riots. The division
bench led by justice M R Shah pronounced the order on a petition moved by the
state government challenging the order of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT)
which in 2007, had quashed the departmental chargesheet issued against
Sreekumar. The division bench set aside the tribunal’s order and allowed the
state authorities to initiate the inquiry.
The chargesheet was issued against the former top cop in
September 2005 on nine alleged charges including maintaining a private diary
and making it official, taping conversation of a meeting with government
official and “leaking intelligence reports” to the media among others.
Sreekumar had submitted the diary, tape recordings and intelligence reports
before the Nanavati Commission probing the 2002 riots. Sreekumar moved before
the CAT in 2007 which quashed the chargesheet. Subsequently, the state appealed
against the CAT order in the high court in 2008.
Sreekumar, who retired in 2007, was among the first serving
IPS officers who had openly criticized the then Gujarat government for the
riots and had deposed before the Commission. He had several run-ins with the
state government which started following his depositions in the Commission.
While deposing before the Commission, Sreekumar had submitted the controversial
diary, containing oral instructions of his superiors and an audio recordings
with several state government officials asking him not to give any
information to the Commission that may embarrass the government.
Following the request by Sreekumar’s lawyer I H Syed, the bench
ordered that the former cop shall file his reply to the state government by
October 28 and directed the state government not to take any action against the
retired officer. When contacted, Sreekumar said that “state government is
systematically working to finish all the whistle blowers and I am the first
whistle blower. I am planning to move Supreme Court.”
Appearing for the state government Advocate General Kamal
Trivedi had submitted before the bench that CAT’s order was arbitrary and
suffered from non-application of mind. He had argued that keeping a personal
diary and disclosing it as an official diary and an unauthorized tape recording
by a high rank police officer is unbecoming of a police officer. “Is it a duty
of police officer to barter information to press…I can’ turn like bull in china
shop. It is beyond morally established principles,” Trivedi had argued.
see also
Smruti Koppikar - Maharashtra CM has no will to pursue my father’s murder
Petition in Supreme Court Accuses NIA of Soft-Pedaling Hindutva Terror Cases
Petition in Supreme Court Accuses NIA of Soft-Pedaling Hindutva Terror Cases
Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti
Disenchanting India: Organized Rationalism in India
Rationalist under threat of arrest for exposing the “miracle”
India's god laws fail the test of reason
India's new theocracy
Voice of rationality silenced by two bullets, shot point-blank
Disenchanting India: Organized Rationalism in India
Rationalist under threat of arrest for exposing the “miracle”
India's god laws fail the test of reason
India's new theocracy
Voice of rationality silenced by two bullets, shot point-blank
The Broken Middle - my essay on the 30th anniversary of 1984
The Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: Inquiry Commission Report (1969)
The Abolition of truth
RSS tradition of manufacturing facts to suit their ideology
The Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: Inquiry Commission Report (1969)
The Abolition of truth
RSS tradition of manufacturing facts to suit their ideology
"The masterminds of the 26/11 attacks are treated like heroes in Pakistan. We are not there yet, but if hidden hands nudge the judicial system to free murderers of the saffron variety, we will be soon"
