Don’t interfere in the transfers and postings of policemen, Governor Hansraj Bhardwaj told the government on Thursday.
Speaking out for the first time against the ruling Congress, he said politicians were influencing affairs that should be handled internally by the police department.
“The influence is also seen in the transfers of lower rung officers,” he said, addressing the valedictory session of the All India Conference of Commissioners of Police.
Bhardwaj said the authority to take decisions should be left to senior policemen, and transfers effected only for administrative reasons.
“You are earning a good name, and you should give responsibility to good officers,” he advised Home Minister K J George, who was present at the ceremony.
Policemen, he emphasised, should be allowed to work with freedom. “If not, the philosophy of governance will suffer. If you demoralise the police, the system will collapse and there will be no law and order,” he warned.
“As a senior citizen, I am apprehensive about the situation. When I was in Chhattisgarh, it was a peaceful region. See what is happening there now. The situation in Karnataka is not ideal either,” he said.
Bhardwaj said Bangalore was facing problems similar to Chicago, the American city once notorious for muggings, murders and gangland crimes. He was especially concerned about women and children being harassed in Bangalore, and advised authorities to grant licences to drivers of public vehicles only after checking their antecedents thoroughly.
London could offer lessons on how to deal with urban crime, Bhardwaj said, and recommended Bangalore policemen be sent to Scotland Yard for training.
Bhardwaj asked officers to work towards restoring the dignity of their office. “You have passed many resolutions in the conference. This should be included first,” he said, adding that IPS officers were facing prosecution all over the country.
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