The IAS and the IPS services are considered among the crème-de-la-
crème of the Indian bureaucratic arrangement. Despite all kinds of
socio-political changes, people belonging to these services still have
public respect and public faith towards them, though for many reasons,
a kind of visible erosion is being perceived and there is a perception
that the so-called Steel frame is no more of the same sterling quality
it used to be.
Yet there are persons whose acts and whose deeds make one think twice
before arriving at such a conclusion. The Gujarat incidents of 2002
threw up many such heroes whose tales of courage, conviction and
dedication towards service have made it into the folklores. One such
person is Mr RB Sreekumar, the then Additional Director General of
Police, heading the Intelligence Department in Gujarat during those
troubled times.
This is what Teesta Setalvad, the social activists said about Mr
Sreekumar during her acceptance speech of the Nani A Palkhivala Civil
Liberties Award, 2006-
"But only one man has remained a stoic and principled dissenter until
today, refusing to cave in even as weeks lapsed into months and months
into years. This man that I dedicate today's honour to. His only
quality-- that many but his co-travellers have seen as a fault-- is
that he refused to sit by and let the mass crimes planned at the
highest level go unchallenged. He suffered for these acts by being
denied due promotion to the post of Director General of Police,
Gujarat, the highest post in his field that as a policeman and thrice
Presidential Award winner for bravery, he would and should aspire to.
Mr RB Sreekumar, Additional Director General of Police, the state of
Gujarat, I salute you."
While it is true that the person whose speech has been produced here
has earned lots of controversies in her enthralling and eventful
journey, having earned an equal number of admirers and detractors but
when she praises Mr Shreekumar in no uncertain words doesn't it fill
the hearts of all the fellow IPS officers with pride? If this is not
true valour and heroism, what else is?
He later compiled his experiences in a book named "The Diary of a
Helpless Man" where he termed the State government as "cruelly
communal" and its officers "sophisticated sycophants" but everyone
knows that there is not much bravery and valour in writing books after
retirement because the fear of persecution is much diluted. But what
makes Mr Shreekumar stand out in the crowd is the fact that he refused
to toe the line expected of him even during the service where he had
to undergo through a Departmental enquiry and finally got his
promotion only through the intervention of the Court. This 1971-cadre
officer and a person holding Post-graduate degrees in three subjects
got superceded in the aftermath of his depositions before the Nanavati
panel.
An Article in "The Hindu" dated Sunday, Mar 04, 2007 titled-
"Sreekumar retires from service, but not his battles" portrays the
turmoil he had to go through- "He, however, scored a victory of sorts
with the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) ruling in his favour
against the Government's "refusal" to grant him promotion. But the CAT
order came only a few hours before 1971-batch IPS officer ended his
innings in the State police cadre on February 28. Also, the order
could not be implemented as a related case is still pending in the
Supreme Court. His pension will not be cleared until the court order
is received." As per the report in Hindu, he was denied promotion on
the ground that a charge sheet against him, related to the period he
was SP in Kutch way back in 1987, was pending in court. The high court
later found the order illegal and reinstated him as DGP on May 3,
2008, with retrospective effect from February 23, 2005. He now lives
in Gandhinagar and is working actively for justice to the victims of
Gujarat genocide.
Our due regards to this brave officer of the Indian Police Service.
Amitabh Thakur
SP (Intll),
Faizabad
# 94155-34526
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