WSN Service
CHANDIGARH: The 39000 strong police force in Haryana is on the verge of mutiny against Bhajan Lalled Congress (I) state governments. “Highhanded” polices.
There have been rallies within police complexes, collective hunger strikes and sit in protests even as the state govt summarily sacked and arrested 300odd men in uniform.
While expressions of deep unrest among the force are being blacked out by the media, last week’s developments in the force are likely to leave long lasting scars on Haryana’s body politic, according to observers here. Haryana’s police play a key role not only within the state but also in India’s capital, Delhi, in the sphere of law and order.
As things are, countless police stations in Haryana are being taken care of by the Indian govt’s security outfit, the Central Reserve Police Force, while men of the Haryana force are sullen and suspect. Even the Indian army has been alerted to be ready to fill the void should the present arrangements fail The crisis was wagered by Delhi Which directed he sate last week to take preemptive action against leaders of the Haryana Policemen’s Sanga than Haryana Policemen’s Association). The (Chief Minister acted promptly to Use the stale, govt’s emergency, Powers to sack and arrest more than 300 policemen connected with the sang than.
What evidently annoyed the Indian govt was the public airing of certain grievances by the sanga than chief, Dilawar Singh, a Haryana jat, who held a Press conference at Chandigarh last month seeking acceptance of policemen’s demands.
In fact, the Sangathan chief had submitted a memorandum on Aug. 5 to Kalyan Rudra, Director General of Haryana’s police force, containing the demands of the state’s constabulary. Since there was no tangible action on the memorandum, the sangathan chose to take the controversy to the public evidently to put pressure on the govt.
The demands included certain welfare measures for the betterment of the force but that was not the end of it all. The sangathan released a list of 30 Indian Police Service officers who, it said, were Compute. The force also resented the ways of the Chief Minister in making use of the police for “political purposes”. In this connection certain incident pertaining to the Hissar truck opera tors union was cited. It was alleged that the force was put to unreasonable use by the Chief Minister in his largely personal dispute with an industrialist, Om Prakash Jindal, who also is an MILA. Belonging to the Haryana Vikas Party of Bansi Lal.
Certain recruitments made to the Haryana police were also not to the liking of the constabulary which saw in it irregularities and favoritism. Yet another sour point was the way the state authorities secured the release of antisocial elements from jails mostly on Parole and to press them to questionable uses.
Clearly the resentment in the force was far deeper than was imagined either by the Chief Minis- terror the Indian central govt. NO Wonder, the arrest of Dilawar Singh and his top aides sent shock waves to the force which rose in. The districts affected most Were Kurukshetra, Jind and Rohtak. Even the force deployed.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 11, 1991
