The Hindu : Ahmedabad crime branch chief shifted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 17, 2002

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National

Ahmedabad crime branch chief shifted

By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD May 16. The BJP Government in Gujarat seems to be leaving no stone unturned to try to dilute or sabotage the investigation and trial of the serious criminal cases during the communal riots.Besides shunting out A.K. Surolia, chief of the Ahmedabad crime branch police, reputed to be a strong-minded officer, who was looking into some of the more serious crimes during the riots, the State Government has also overhauled the panel of public prosecutors for the Ahmedabad metropolitan court, appointing people who have no experience in handling criminal cases.

The transfer of Mr. Surolia, to the Border Security Force on deputation, comes close on the heels of the shifting of K.R. Kaushik, who was investigating the Godhra train carnage, as the police commissioner of Ahmedabad. The State Government had last month reshuffled several senior-level police officers investigating the incidents in Meghaninagar and Naroda-Patia, where nearly 150 Muslims were burnt alive.

Mr. Surolia's case for deputation was re-opened after the State Government had turned down the proposal along with three other officials way back in November and treated the matter as closed. What prompted it to re-open the file was not immediately known, but it was learnt that at the request of the State, the Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani, cleared Mr. Surolia's deputation to the BSF.

It was also not known why the Government overhauled the panel of public prosecutors dropping four experienced legal experts to accommodate 11 new faces, most of whom have never handled a criminal case. More than 2,980 riot-related cases filed in Ahmedabad alone will be conducted by the panel to try to prosecute the accused in the courts.

The legal experts said it was a deliberate attempt of the Government to weaken the prosecution against the accused, many of them Sangh Parivar or the ruling BJP activists, so that they escaped punishment in the courts.

Though the Government is supposed to appoint public prosecutors from a list jointly recommended by the District Collector and the Principal Judge, the Government sources said in this case the recommendation of the Principal Judge was by and large ignored and only those having political affiliations with the ruling party were considered. The Law Department officials said the Ministry had the option of selecting people at random from the joint list without going into the merit of the candidates.

Meanwhile, in yet another demonstration of police-public `affinity' that manifested on the Gujarat Bandh day on February 28 when police remained inactive allowing the violent mobs to run amok, the people of Madhavpura locality in Ahmedabad observed a day-long bandh today in protest against the suspension of the local police inspector, G.C. Rawat.

In similar circumstances, the people of Sabarmati had observed a bandh last month after an inspector was suspended following the attack on a group of journalists in the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram. The Madhavpura inspector was reportedly suspended for misbehaving with his senior officers who allegedly scolded him for inaction during some rioting near the city police commissioner's office last week.

The police had to burst about a dozen teargas shells when a group of people came out on the streets and indulged in stone-throwing to protest against Mr. Rawat's suspension. In another incident, one person sustained injury in a bomb blast near Sarangpur gate in Raipur locality. However, despite the stray incidents, day curfew has been lifted from all over the city and only night curfew will remain in force fully or partly in 16 police station areas in the city.

Meanwhile, security has been strengthened at the Kandla port and some other ports in the State following some intelligence reports that some international mafia gangs had dispatched arms and ammunition through sea routes to the State for a possible minority retaliation. A senior border range police official said all containers landing at the Kandla and other major ports were being scrutinised and the police were not leaving anything to chance.

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