West Bengal CM indulgence in her party men's rowdyism

Inquiry blames police, not rowdies

Bhowanipore Officers Failed To Assess Situation And Became Too Proactive, Says Report

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 09.11.2011

One of the vehicles damaged by the Mamata's men in front of Bhowanipore police station on Sunday

Kolkata: It is a rare occasion to see a chief minister walking into a police station late in the evening to control an unruly mob. And it is unusual for a CM who believes in not interfering in police’s work. 
    It’s another matter that the clubs which triggered the brawl claim Mamata Banerjee’s own brothers to be their patrons. And police apparently bent backwards to appease their political masters. An internal police inquiry report on Tuesday claimed “police officers” were responsible for the Sunday rampage — which left a dozen of their own men, including the Bhowanipore OC, injured. 
    The report squarely blamed the Bhowanipore OC and a sub-inspector for their “pro-activeness” in attempting to stop the blaring music and bursting of banned firecracker. The report also claimed that the subinspector was not only “headstrong” but his “indecent behaviour” provoked the men in the procession to attack cops, ransack vehicles and stage a roadblock. 
    The report, prepared by ACP (south) Tapas Bose, was submitted to DCP (south) D P Singh. It, however, is contrary to eyewitness accounts of the events as reported in TOI earlier. The report, it appears, is a clear attempt to find scapegoats. 
    It draws instances on the “laid down briefing” to police to handle errant people in a procession to indicate that both the OC and the SI had faltered on job. The report even saysthat as per the laid down brief, the SI had erred in trying to “directly stop the mikes”. These incidentally happened right in front of a hospital —the Chittaranjan Cancer Research Institute. 
    The report says, in such cases police officers have been clearly instructed not to forcibly stop the mikes but to speak to the leader of the processions and reason with them. The SI had clearly defied that trying to stop the loudspeakers himself and even misbehaving with the crowd. It says for such a big procession, the police arrangement was “woefully inadequate” and should have been personally supervised by the OC himself or in his absence at least the additional OC. An SI along with a small force was inadequate to handle such a large procession. The OC, the report said, had completely failed to assess the situation. 
    The report says had things being done “according to the briefing”, a situation which required lathicharge could have been avoided. 
    Though senior officers refused to comment on either the report or its contents, a clear indication emerged that the two officers indicted in the report could face departmental proceedings. However, Bhowanipore now falls in the ambit of the Kolkata South Lok Sabha constituency where by-elections are scheduled on November 30. The Election Commission has already issued a notification on November 5 and any further actioning (against any officer) would require sanction of the EC. An officer said the Kolkata Police top brass is unlikely to do so and would wait till the elections are over to shunt out the officer duo.