It is time for Kavita Karkare, Vinita Kamte and Smita Salaskar to move on.They have done a lot to make people aware of the sacrifice of their respective husbands. Vinita in particular has with single-minded determination ensured that her husband and others were awarded the Ashok Chakra, the nation’s highest award for bravery.And she has authored a book that should be made compulsory reading for all IPS officers, young and old.
Ashok Kamte was a very popular and respected officer.He was an officer after my own heart since he did not kowtow to politicians and did what he thought was in the people’s interest.He believed in justice and truth and though his reactions may have been a little exuberant at times, they were always well received by the public because at the receiving end of his stick were wielders of power or doers of wrong who needed to be shown their place. His widow, who has as much gumption as her husband had, doggedly pursued all the oral and recorded evidence to piece together the happenings of November 26, 2008 leading up to her husbands unfortunate and untimely death.I have an uneasy feeling that in Vinita’s subconscious she was blaming Rakesh Maria for sending her husband to his death. Maria, who was senior to Ashok in service, was assigned duty in the Control Room on that fateful night.He is built in a different mould from Ashok, but he, too, is conscientious and efficient and, hence, an asset to the force.
A soldier goes where he is ordered to go.I speak as one who nearly lost his own life twice and escaped miraculously on both occasions.I was asked to go to Punjab by the country’s prime minister and so I went. Rakesh Maria cannot be held responsible for the tragedy that befell Vinita just as I cannot blame Rajiv Gandhi for any misfortunes experienced by me consequent to my Punjab assignment.
The present imbroglio has arisen because of two very unfortunate controversies which have erupted within a course of a week and which have badly affected the morale of the rank and file and consequently the performance of the force.The first such controversy arose out of Hasan Gafoor’s remarks against four of his juniors.Hardly had the excitement subsided when Vinita Kamte’s book rekindled the dying embers.Since both these controversies erupted at about the same time it attracted unwelcome publicity for the Mumbai Police which has been trying to regain its lost élan with the arrival of D Sivanandhan as the new commissioner.
Gafoor maintains a low profile as a matter of prudence. He hardly ever opens his mouth.
But when he did so he put both his feet in it.I feel sorry for him because otherwise he is a very polite and cultured individual hailing from a refined family.Unfortunately, he does not have too many friends in the service and hence the controversy surrounding his utterances may unnecessarily linger.If those who he had targeted choose to forgive and forget, the better it will be for the health of the force.
As for Maria he met me after the 26/11 commemoration function at the Police Gymkhana.
He voiced his intention of resigning in case the government did not clear him from the inferences that Vinita’s findings had visited on him. I advised him against any drastic reaction and asked him to see me the next day with the records which he asserted would
disprove Vinita’s conclusions.
All messages in the police control room are now taped following the directions of Justice BN Srikrishna in the 1992/93 riots inquiry. Control room records showed that Ashok Kamte had twice asked for directions from the control room and since Sadanand Date had persistently been demanding immediate reinforcements Maria directed Kamte to proceed to Cama Hospital.Maria was not told that the police commissioner had asked Kamte to come to Trident Hotel as stated by Vinita in her book.There is no record to show that Kamte was asked to proceed to Trident and if that was so he would not have asked the control room twice in quick succession for directions as to where to proceed.
Vinita’s two other grouses, one that reinforcements were not dispatched for 40 minutes despite Karkare’s repeated requests and that Maria misinformed Gafoor about the location of Kamte and Karkare were also disproved from a perusal of the records.
Hence it is my impassioned plea to all concerned that the controversy and bickering that are presently disgracing the department be abruptly ended and that the Mumbai Police revert to their assigned duty of protecting the lives and property of the citizens in a more dedicated and professional manner under the leadership of a chief who feels and cares for the people.
The writer is a retired police officer.
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