Officer who slammed Haryana govt in report on Jat stir says it has again surrendered to lumpen elements
The Dera Sacha Sauda mayhem, which left 36 people dead and over 250 injured, happened due to "political hesitation" and "politician procrastination", said retired Border Security Force (BSF) Director General Parkash Singh. "It was Haryana government's abject surrender to lumpen elements," said Singh, who had earlier been assigned with the job of preparing fact-finding report on last year's Jat agitation.
Also senior bureaucrats in the Union Home ministry blamed the Haryana government saying it was complete failure on part of state government and the state administration willfully surrendered before the miscreants. Seeing the situation, they stated that there was no communication between the force on the ground and senior officers. "It looks like no instruction was issued from senior police officers to deal with the mob," said a senior bureaucrat adding that everyone in the state administration is accountable for deaths.
Speaking to DNA, Singh slammed the Haryana government and Centre for its inept handling of the mayhem. "It is not just a responsibility of the Director General of Police of Haryana. He does not act in vacuum. He operates within the limitation and directions of state government," he said.
He stated that police had failed to act under political pressure. "Everyone is responsible... the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and of course the Director General of Police."
After facing flak for the Jat violence, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had set up the fact-finding committee under Singh to probe the lapses.
Singh said that during Jat agitation, it was complete "collapse" of state machinery and administration but during Dera Sacha Sauda mayhem it was "failure" on part of state machinery and administration. He further pointed out that the state was aware about that mayhem would happen but they failed to act.
He also stated that now the police defend themselves saying the prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC were issued. But these prohibitory orders had serious lacunae. The order only prohibited people from carrying weapons, there was no prohibition on the entry of five or more people. "They come up with defence that it was clerical error. It is just unacceptable," he said.
He said that he saw forces running away from a bunch of protestors. "I don't know which force they belonged to, but I feel ashamed that these things continue to happen in the state even after a year. The other thing that needs to be investigated, apart from the 'clerical error', is the police's running away from the scene. Dera Sacha Sauda followers weren't armed with sophisticated weapons. I'm ashamed that the police have not changed at all in this one year"
Prakash Singh is a retired IPS officer, who served as the chief of UP Police, BSF and Assam Police. More recently, he conducted an inquiry into the 2016 Jat agitation, based on which some officers were held guilty and punished for abetting riots.
Singh said Khattar had asked him to stop working on his second report after the Jat violence that was to focus on police reforms and operational autonomy for the force. In his first report about the Jat violence, Singh had slammed the police brass and alleged an administrative paralysis. "The highest functionaries in the government failed to show the kind of guidance, direction and control" expected in a crisis, he had written.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Forces-Dera-Sacha-Sauda")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}