GUWAHATI: The IPS (Central) Association has urged Assam’s director general of police, Mukesh Sahay, to get the events leading up to the arrest of IPS officer Dr. N Rajamarthandan probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). It also asked him to consider inter-state transfer of Rajamarthandan until the legal processes are completed or for a minimum period of three years.
The IPS (Central) Association is apparently miffed over the manner in which Rajamarthandan was arrested and the IPC sections that were slapped against him.
Rajamarthandan, a 2006 batch IPS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre who was senior superintendent of police in the State’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), was heading the special investigation team (SIT) probe into the March 6 ransacking of All Assam Students’ Union’s (AASUs) Silapathar office by a mob.
The mob was allegedly instigated by Nikhil Bharat Banglali Udbastu Samanway Samitee (NBBUSS) president Subodh Biswas, who is now languishing in jail.
Rajamarthandan was arrested for passing on documents, including classified, to NBBUSS general secretary Ambika Roy in response to the latter’s RTI application seeking information about Subodh Biswas’ arrest.
The arrested IPS officer argued that the information he had furnished was permissible under the RTI Act. Earlier, a case was registered against him under Sections 120(B)/418/468/471 of IPC and Section 98(A) of Assam Police Act, 2007.
In a letter to Mukesh Sahay, written by IPS (Central) Association secretary PV Rama Sastry and a copy of which was available with the New Indian Express, the IPS officers’ body said the arrest of Rajamarthandan under “unusual circumstances” had caused dismay among members of the service across the country.
“Information available in the public domain indicates that the officer was arrested within a short span of time after an offence was registered under the sections of law for which maximum punishment prescribed is up to seven years. The allegations do not indicate corruption, moral turpitude or heinous offence. The circumstances do not indicate that Section 41A notice could not have served the purpose. The cadre officers shared with us that the accused officer holds a reputation of being honest and hardworking,” the IPS (Central) Association’s letter to Mukesh Sahay read.
Stating that it has constantly upheld the concept of functional autonomy to the investigating officers, the IPS (Central) Association said such autonomy, however, was contingent upon strict adherence to the law of arrests and bails.
“We are constrained to observe that the present situation leaves us with a feeling that the action taken by the investigating and supervising officers is disproportionately high and harsher than the usual response in such cases. If such examples recur and slowly become a norm, it will put a question mark on our ability to handle the power of arrest and treatment of officers of the service, which will indeed be against the best interests of the service…..
“The association looks up to you for your kind intervention in the matter and sincerely hopes that your vast experience in matters of crime investigation will help in ensuring that further action in the case will be fair, just and proper…..
“It has been reported that the complainant is a senior IPS officer of the CID. As a senior officer of the premier investigating agency of the State has taken a position in the matter, principles of natural justice warrant that the investigation may be entrusted to the CBI which will be in a position to take a dispassionate view. Recommendation to this extent may please be initiated by the State….
“When the matter comes before the court for hearing on bail, it may be ensured that the response is not a mechanical opposition but a well-considered and fair one, taking into consideration the case law on bails which is against unnecessary incarceration in pre-trial custody. The State may consider recommending for the inter-state transfer of the officer until the legal processes against him are not completed or for a minimum period of three years,” the IPS (Central) Association’s letter to Mukesh Sahay added.