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ShareNew Delhi: The conviction of former DGP of Haryana, SPS Rathore, in a molestation case could just be the tip of the iceberg, feel eminent officers of Indian Police Service (IPS). The case has left them so worried that they are asking for measures to increase accountability in the force.
Rathore was handed a six-month jail term for molesting a budding tennis player who ended up killing herself three years after the incident. Rathore got bail and walked free. His smiling face, captured by TV cameras, is worth a thousand words. "It's a matter of shame that it's taken 19 years to decide a molestation case. It speaks very poorly about our criminal justice system," said former Delhi Police commissioner Ved Marwah.
The conviction of Rathore brings back memories of the KPS Gill-Rupan Deol Bajaj (an IAS officer) molestation and harassment case, in which Gill got implicated. The former IPS officer's appeal to quash Punjab and Haryana high court's conviction was quashed by the Supreme Court in 2005.
Since then, criminal cases against the elite in the police force have been piling up. In January, Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested an IPS officer for keeping narcotics with himself. The 1995 batch officer, Saji Mohan, was posted with the Narcotics Control Bureau's Chandigarh unit. Police seized 12 kg heroin from him.
ATS sleuths alleged Mohan had stolen the drugs from a consignment seized by his department.
"This [cases] is very worrying for the IPS community. There should be greater accountability in the service," said Ajai Raj Sharma, the former chief of the Border Security Force (BSF).
"The involvement of IPS officers in criminal cases is not new, but the good thing now is that they are being caught regularly, which shows they are under far greater scrutiny," said Sharma
Sharma's words ring loud when considered in the context of the fake encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh. In April 2004, Gujarat police arrested three senior IPS officers for killing a man they described as an LeT operative. The officers --DG Vanzara, an inspector-general, Rajkumar Pandayan and MN Dinesh of Rajasthan, police superintendents, -- were all part of the conspiracy to kill Sohrabuddin.
Till date, 14 officers from Gujarat and Rajasthan have been arrested for the extra-judicial killing.
The increasing number of cases (see box) have started a debate about reforms in the IPS. "I think the fault is not with the IPS. The fault lies in the nexus between politicians, administration and moneybags," said Ved Marwah. "They [officers] have come so close to it that this is affecting their integrity," said Marwah.
Marwah's concerns about the nexus seem justified when one recalls the death of a computer graphics teacher in West Bengal in 2007. The key players in the death of Rizwanur Rahman were the father of the girl he married and a top cop. Rizwanur's father-in-law, Ashok Todi, was a powerful businessman. Ajoy Kumar was a DCP in Kolkata. Kumar is accused of threatening Rizwanur and persuading his wife to return to her father.
