Kandhamal lesson: A stitch in time saves Nine

29th June 2010 must be considered an important day in the history of Indian judicial system. Not that some new law was promulgated on that day nor was any new judicial body set up. There was not even a major judicial structural change as well. Yet, what happened that day is something that would go a long way in restoring our faith in Indian socio-political structure. At the same time, it would help redeem the respect of Indian populace for our judicial system. It is on this date that in Kandhamal district Orissa, an important judgment was delivered that went on to sentence the powerful local politician and MLA from an important political party in matters related with communal riots. Read more


What is even more heartening is that the judgment was delivered by a fast-track court within a span of 2 years of the happening of the incidence. Manoj Pradhan, the influential leader of Kandhamal and a present-time MLA was supposed to be close to Swami Laxmanananda.

It was August 2008 that the murder of an important Hindu religious leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides had trigged a massive and highly damaging riot which went on for days (which has been alleged by many as being  a result of the deliberate laxity on the government’s part). The end result was what always happens in every riotous situations- the poor and the have-nots bore the brunt of the attack. While thousands of Christians were forced to leave their houses, the heat was equally felt by the poor Hindu tribal communities. It is alleged that Manoj Pradhan played a major role in instigating the riots and led it from the front, taking part in arson, murder and other heinous offences during the riots. Pradhan later got arrested and subsequently got his bail.

Meanwhile the matter came for trial before the Fast Court Track in Kandhamal district. Nearly two dozen cases were registered in different police stations in that period. In fact 17 cases were registered against Manoj Pradhan himself. So far decision in 12 cases related to him have come and he has been absolved in 11 of them. In the latest judgment he has been found guilty along with Pafulla Mallik and 14 others on charges of rioting, causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons and arson.  They have been given 7 years of rigorous imprisonment each.  Thus five cases are still pending before him.

The judgment has been received by different people in different ways. There is a group that says that the punishment has been too less and lenient considering the heinous nature of the crime. They would have been satisfied if the maximum prescribed punishment were imposed on the accused. The other group has an exactly opposite view and openly claim that Manoj Pradhan was falsely implicated in the matter and he is completely innocent. They say that an appeal will be made in the Orissa High Court which shall help bring forth the truth. There are also the sufferers and the poor people who are too frightened to articulate any opinion in any way and for whom the only thing that matters is that such things don’t repeat again.

For a person like me and you, it would neither be prudent nor legal to comment on the judgment per se and give our own opinion, it still being in the judicial process. But one thing that really gives me immense satisfaction is the fact that justice (whether as acquittals or as convictions) is being delivered in these cases in a relatively fast manner, that too considering the fact that this is a highly contentious, political and religiously charged and emotive issue.

"Justice delayed is justice denied" they say but due to so many reasons this is exactly what is happening in our country in many cases. Look at the SPS Rathode case in Haryana. The incident took place in 1990 and the judgment was delivered in 2010. What meanings do such judgments have for all the concerned parties? Many a times the accused and the victim are dead and gone, at other times they are too old, helpless or weak as to suffer or rejoice the verdict. In short, it becomes a mere mockery and some kind of ritual. I recently read of a judgment related with Shibu Soren, the ex-Chief Minister of Jharkhand who was found not guilty in a murder case that related to late 1970s. So after more than 30 years it is found that Shibu Soren had not caused that murder. What relevance does such judgements have- in the eyes of the public, for the accused, for the victims, for the prosecution and even for the Judge who is delivering it?

What even pains more is that even Judiciary seems to have got affected by the media bug or the media pressure. An apt example would again be the same Ruchika case, where after 19 years, 40 adjournments, and more than 400 hearings, the court finally pronounced Rathore guilty under Section 354 IPC (molestation) and sentenced him to six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000. But the moment there was a huge uproar across the nation, another Court could deliver the judgment in less than 6 months sentencing him to one and a half years of rigorous imprisonment.

But to me, the Kandhamal case carries much more importance than Ruchika and Jessica Lal and all such cases because these are the crimes that are related with individuals while a riot is one which the general public has to face and suffer. Thus a judgment in one of the crimes related with riots has a much higher relevance and impetus to the masses and has much more message to convey. In such circumstances, if the crimes related with riots (religious, political, caste-based etc) are not decided in a swift manner, it gives a very bad message to the society and acts as a huge bolster to the other rioters. If there is not enough evidence against a person, leave him/her for good.

Otherwise convict the person to the equitable punishment that seems to be deserving. But to choose a middle path of lingering the matter for years in nothing but akin to becoming a party to the crime itself. If a Sikh riot of 1984, the Ayodhya events of 1992 or the Gujarat pogrom of 1992 are still pending in Courts, with no near chances of their getting decided (either way) then don't they act as potential precursors of future riots, giving such criminal mindsets an example to emulate and follow?

I sincerely believe that judgments in all such riot related matters must be delivered in a timely manner and swift (and correct) decisions must be arrived at in the minimum possible time, even at the cost of some criticism here and there (which any judicial pronouncement is bound to face anyway, because of vested interests and varying perspectives).

Amitabh Thakur
(The author is a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, and President of National RTI Forum. Mobile: +91 94155-34526)

"Foundation of commercial RFID industry is credited to Sanjay Sarma"

One can't believe my sense of joy and pride when during a Management Information System presentation on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow, one of the groups told us that the foundation of commercial RFID industry is credited to Sri Sanjay Sarma from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), when in 1999 Auto-ID center at MIT developed it. This is because I am privileged to have been a batch-mate of Sri Sanjay Sarma at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. Read more

Just imagine the kind of feeling one has when one realizes that one of his old friends has done something remarkable in the field of Science and Technology. The same happened when Mr Sanjay Sarma's name came in the class as inventor of commercial RFID. The entire class at IIM-L clapped with recognition when I told them with a proud voice that I was a batch-mate of Sarma at IIT-K. They became even more engrossed and clapped further when I told them that his wife Geetanjali (again an IIT-K alumnus) is no less talented and among the most good-looking girls IIT Kanpur ever had.

It was at this time that I also realized how much important and long-lasting the scientific contributions are compared to many of the short-term (and often shortsighted) achievements we in police and administration seem to boast of. Again, how much more is its reach? Just think, this person is suiting in America. He did something way back in 1999. But 11 years later students at IIM Lucknow are remembering his name with respect and awe.

Yes, I am feely really happy to have been a friend and acquaintance of Sanjay.

Amitabh Thakur
(The author is an officer with Indian Police Service (IPS), an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, and presently doing his higher studies at the premier management institute - Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow).

Mr RB Sreekumar - a tireless crusader for social justice

Mr RB Sreekumar - a tireless crusader for social justice

The Indian Administative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS) are considered among the crème-de-la-crème of the Indian bureaucratic arrangement. Despite all kinds of socio-political changes, people belonging to these services still have public respect and public faith towards them, though for many reasons, a kind of visible erosion is being perceived and there is a perception that the so-called Steel frame is no more of the same sterling quality it used to be.

Yet there are persons whose acts and whose deeds make one think twice before arriving at such a conclusion. The Gujarat incidents of 2002 threw up many such heroes whose tales of courage, conviction and dedication towards service have made it into the folklores. One such person is Mr RB Sreekumar, the then Additional Director General of Police, heading the Intelligence Department in Gujarat during those troubled times.

This is what Teesta Setalvad, a noted social activist, said about Mr Sreekumar during her acceptance speech of the Nani A Palkhivala Civil Liberties Award, 2006-

“But only one man has remained a stoic and principled dissenter until today, refusing to cave in even as weeks lapsed into months and months into years. This man that I dedicate today’s honour to. His only quality-- that many but his co-travellers have seen as a fault-- is that he refused to sit by and let the mass crimes planned at the highest level go unchallenged. He suffered for these acts by being denied due promotion to the post of Director General of Police, Gujarat, the highest post in his field that as a policeman and thrice Presidential Award winner for bravery, he would and should aspire to. Mr RB Sreekumar, Additional Director General of Police, the state of Gujarat, I salute you.”

While it is true that the person whose speech has been produced here has earned lots of controversies in her enthralling and eventful journey, having earned an equal number of admirers and detractors but when she praises Mr Sreekumar in no uncertain words doesn’t it fill the hearts of all the fellow IPS officers with pride? If this is not true valour and heroism, what else is?

Mr Sreekumar later compiled his experiences in a book named "The Diary of a Helpless Man" where he termed the State government as "cruelly communal" and its officers "sophisticated sycophants" but everyone knows that there is not much bravery and valour in writing books after retirement because the fear of persecution is much diluted. But what makes Mr Sreekumar stand out in the crowd is the fact that he refused to toe the line expected of him even during the service where he had to undergo through a Departmental enquiry and finally got his promotion only through the intervention of the Court. This 1971-cadre officer and a person holding Post-graduate degrees in three subjects got superceded in the aftermath of his depositions before the Nanavati panel.

An Article in 'The Hindu' dated Sunday, 4 March 2007 titled- "Sreekumar retires from service, but not his battles" portrays the turmoil he had to go through- "He, however, scored a victory of sorts with the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) ruling in his favour against the Government's "refusal" to grant him promotion. But the CAT order came only a few hours before 1971-batch IPS officer ended his innings in the State police cadre on February 28. Also, the order could not be implemented as a related case is still pending in the Supreme Court. His pension will not be cleared until the court order is received.” As per the report in Hindu, he was denied promotion on the ground that a charge sheet against him, related to the period he was Superintendent of Police (SP) in Kutch way back in 1987, was pending in court. The high court later found the order illegal and reinstated him as Director General of Police (DGP) on May 3, 2008, with retrospective effect from February 23, 2005. He now lives in Gandhinagar and is working actively for justice to the victims of Gujarat genocide.

Our due regards to this brave officer of the Indian Police Service.

Amitabh Thakur

(The author is a senior police officer serving as Superintendent of Police (Intelligence), and can be contacted on mobile phone: 94155-34526)

Mr RB Sreekumar - a tireless crusader for social justice

Mr RB Sreekumar - a tireless crusader for social justice

The Indian Administative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS) are considered among the crème-de-la-crème of the Indian bureaucratic arrangement. Despite all kinds of socio-political changes, people belonging to these services still have public respect and public faith towards them, though for many reasons, a kind of visible erosion is being perceived and there is a perception that the so-called Steel frame is no more of the same sterling quality it used to be.

Yet there are persons whose acts and whose deeds make one think twice before arriving at such a conclusion. The Gujarat incidents of 2002 threw up many such heroes whose tales of courage, conviction and dedication towards service have made it into the folklores. One such person is Mr RB Sreekumar, the then Additional Director General of Police, heading the Intelligence Department in Gujarat during those troubled times.

This is what Teesta Setalvad, a noted social activist, said about Mr Sreekumar during her acceptance speech of the Nani A Palkhivala Civil Liberties Award, 2006-

“But only one man has remained a stoic and principled dissenter until today, refusing to cave in even as weeks lapsed into months and months into years. This man that I dedicate today’s honour to. His only quality-- that many but his co-travellers have seen as a fault-- is that he refused to sit by and let the mass crimes planned at the highest level go unchallenged. He suffered for these acts by being denied due promotion to the post of Director General of Police, Gujarat, the highest post in his field that as a policeman and thrice Presidential Award winner for bravery, he would and should aspire to. Mr RB Sreekumar, Additional Director General of Police, the state of Gujarat, I salute you.”

While it is true that the person whose speech has been produced here has earned lots of controversies in her enthralling and eventful journey, having earned an equal number of admirers and detractors but when she praises Mr Sreekumar in no uncertain words doesn’t it fill the hearts of all the fellow IPS officers with pride? If this is not true valour and heroism, what else is?

Mr Sreekumar later compiled his experiences in a book named "The Diary of a Helpless Man" where he termed the State government as "cruelly communal" and its officers "sophisticated sycophants" but everyone knows that there is not much bravery and valour in writing books after retirement because the fear of persecution is much diluted. But what makes Mr Sreekumar stand out in the crowd is the fact that he refused to toe the line expected of him even during the service where he had to undergo through a Departmental enquiry and finally got his promotion only through the intervention of the Court. This 1971-cadre officer and a person holding Post-graduate degrees in three subjects got superceded in the aftermath of his depositions before the Nanavati panel.

An Article in 'The Hindu' dated Sunday, 4 March 2007 titled- "Sreekumar retires from service, but not his battles" portrays the turmoil he had to go through- "He, however, scored a victory of sorts with the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) ruling in his favour against the Government's "refusal" to grant him promotion. But the CAT order came only a few hours before 1971-batch IPS officer ended his innings in the State police cadre on February 28. Also, the order could not be implemented as a related case is still pending in the Supreme Court. His pension will not be cleared until the court order is received.” As per the report in Hindu, he was denied promotion on the ground that a charge sheet against him, related to the period he was Superintendent of Police (SP) in Kutch way back in 1987, was pending in court. The high court later found the order illegal and reinstated him as Director General of Police (DGP) on May 3, 2008, with retrospective effect from February 23, 2005. He now lives in Gandhinagar and is working actively for justice to the victims of Gujarat genocide.

Our due regards to this brave officer of the Indian Police Service.

Amitabh Thakur

(The author is a senior police officer serving as Superintendent of Police (Intelligence), and can be contacted on mobile phone: 94155-34526)

A police officer who ably quelled riots - Rahul Sharma

A police officer who ably quelled riots - Rahul Sharma

Another person who withstood his ground and emerged as hero was Mr Rahul Sharma, a 1992 batch IPS officer, who was posted as Superintendent of Police (SP) of Bhavnagar district about whom Mr Shreekumar has written so high about in his book “The Diary of a Helpless Man” saying that he was the only other officer who stood to himself in the affidavit before the Nanavati commission probing the riots.

In Mr Sharma’s district a mob was fired at killing four when it was attacking an orphanage with 350 inmates in it. He dealt with the other riotous elements with the same firmness and neutrality (almost with an iron hand as is desired on such occasions) and thus Bhavnagar became the first district in Gujarat where the rioters got so much discouraged and frightened that they simply chickened out and the riots got controlled with immediate effect.

About Mr Rahul Sharma’s contribution in the Gujarat riots, Vikram Rautela of the Indian Express on Feb 08, 2009 titled- "IPS Rahul Sharma expresses willingness to rejoin state police" , writes- "Sharma had provided the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) with a set of two compact discs containing records of all mobile phone calls made in and around Ahmedabad during the 2002 riots. He had procured the call records from Cellforce and AT&T, which were providing mobile phone service at that time."

It further says- "During his brief tenure as Superintendent of Police (SP) from February 27 to March 26, 2002, he had successfully controlled rioting in the district. The Modi government, however, shunted him to the low profile post of DCP in the Ahmedabad police's control room on April 8, 2002. Less than a week after he got the CDs in June 2002, Sharma was taken off the riot probe and sent to group 11 SRP at Vav near Surat on July 6. The transfer was being considered by some as a punishment posting for having ruffled several feathers. On August 22, 2003, Sharma joined the CID (crime), and six months later, he joined the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 17, 2004."

In another news-article titled "On hold for 7 yrs, probe picks up Gujarat riot phone CDs" dated Feb 06, 2009, Vikram Rautela writes – "A set of CDs containing mobile phone records of all calls made in Ahmedabad during the 2002 Gujarat riots, ignored by at least one probe panel but preserved by an IPS officer, is now helping the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the reinvestigation of the ten worst riot cases." Adding- "The SIT has relied heavily on the interpretation of the data in the CDs. “It took us almost six months to analyse this huge data. It was on the basis of these findings that we got a clear picture of who was where on February 28, 2002 and we prepared questionnaires for the accused and suspects accordingly," said an SIT officer who did not wish to be identified.

Rautela further writes- "In October 2004, Sharma, appearing before the Nanavati Commission, caused a stir when he took out copies of the CDs from a bag and placed it before the panel. Shunted to Surat after the riots, Sharma kept a copy of the CDs."

Here I would like to add that I belong to the same batch as Mr Rahul Sharma and feel doubly proud to have been there with this brave person for nearly two years at the National Police Academy, Hyderabad sharing hours together.

What makes Mr Sharma so very special in our eyes is the fact that he is so unassuming and gentle-mannered that one would tend to disbelieve that all the exploits being mentioned are really his own. How could a person who can hardly harm a fly get transformed into one in whose district the riots were quelled and crushed in the most effective manner, going to the extent of being ruthless almost in the copybook style? He is very decent in his words and speech, very cool and helping and very much a friend’s friend. Yet when it comes to his obligations towards his duty and his commitment to his job, he gets the Arjun’s eyes leaving everything else other than the work assigned. This is our Rahul Sharma. He is now going back to the Gujarat cadre from the CBI where we all know that he would continue doing his good work.

Amitabh Thakur

(The author is a senior police officer serving as Superintendent of Police (Intelligence), and can be contacted on mobile phone: 94155-34526)

A police officer who ably quelled riots - Rahul Sharma

A police officer who ably quelled riots - Rahul Sharma

Another person who withstood his ground and emerged as hero was Mr Rahul Sharma, a 1992 batch IPS officer, who was posted as Superintendent of Police (SP) of Bhavnagar district about whom Mr Shreekumar has written so high about in his book “The Diary of a Helpless Man” saying that he was the only other officer who stood to himself in the affidavit before the Nanavati commission probing the riots.

In Mr Sharma’s district a mob was fired at killing four when it was attacking an orphanage with 350 inmates in it. He dealt with the other riotous elements with the same firmness and neutrality (almost with an iron hand as is desired on such occasions) and thus Bhavnagar became the first district in Gujarat where the rioters got so much discouraged and frightened that they simply chickened out and the riots got controlled with immediate effect.

About Mr Rahul Sharma’s contribution in the Gujarat riots, Vikram Rautela of the Indian Express on Feb 08, 2009 titled- "IPS Rahul Sharma expresses willingness to rejoin state police" , writes- "Sharma had provided the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) with a set of two compact discs containing records of all mobile phone calls made in and around Ahmedabad during the 2002 riots. He had procured the call records from Cellforce and AT&T, which were providing mobile phone service at that time."

It further says- "During his brief tenure as Superintendent of Police (SP) from February 27 to March 26, 2002, he had successfully controlled rioting in the district. The Modi government, however, shunted him to the low profile post of DCP in the Ahmedabad police's control room on April 8, 2002. Less than a week after he got the CDs in June 2002, Sharma was taken off the riot probe and sent to group 11 SRP at Vav near Surat on July 6. The transfer was being considered by some as a punishment posting for having ruffled several feathers. On August 22, 2003, Sharma joined the CID (crime), and six months later, he joined the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 17, 2004."

In another news-article titled "On hold for 7 yrs, probe picks up Gujarat riot phone CDs" dated Feb 06, 2009, Vikram Rautela writes – "A set of CDs containing mobile phone records of all calls made in Ahmedabad during the 2002 Gujarat riots, ignored by at least one probe panel but preserved by an IPS officer, is now helping the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the reinvestigation of the ten worst riot cases." Adding- "The SIT has relied heavily on the interpretation of the data in the CDs. “It took us almost six months to analyse this huge data. It was on the basis of these findings that we got a clear picture of who was where on February 28, 2002 and we prepared questionnaires for the accused and suspects accordingly," said an SIT officer who did not wish to be identified.

Rautela further writes- "In October 2004, Sharma, appearing before the Nanavati Commission, caused a stir when he took out copies of the CDs from a bag and placed it before the panel. Shunted to Surat after the riots, Sharma kept a copy of the CDs."

Here I would like to add that I belong to the same batch as Mr Rahul Sharma and feel doubly proud to have been there with this brave person for nearly two years at the National Police Academy, Hyderabad sharing hours together.

What makes Mr Sharma so very special in our eyes is the fact that he is so unassuming and gentle-mannered that one would tend to disbelieve that all the exploits being mentioned are really his own. How could a person who can hardly harm a fly get transformed into one in whose district the riots were quelled and crushed in the most effective manner, going to the extent of being ruthless almost in the copybook style? He is very decent in his words and speech, very cool and helping and very much a friend’s friend. Yet when it comes to his obligations towards his duty and his commitment to his job, he gets the Arjun’s eyes leaving everything else other than the work assigned. This is our Rahul Sharma. He is now going back to the Gujarat cadre from the CBI where we all know that he would continue doing his good work.

Amitabh Thakur

(The author is a senior police officer serving as Superintendent of Police (Intelligence), and can be contacted on mobile phone: 94155-34526)