By Arun Pratap Singh
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 13 Dec: The final session on the opening day of the Crime Literature Festival of India was a very interesting discussion themed ‘The Enforcer: An IPS Officer’s War on Crime in India’s Badlands’ between former DGP of UP, Prashant Kumar, former DGP of Uttarakhand, Ashok Kumar, crime writer and journalist Anirudhya Mitra, and it was moderated by writer and poet Prachi Kandwal. The discussion mainly centred around UP, which was once deeply afflicted by powerful mafia in cahoots with the politicians of that era, and how in the past eight years it has transformed into a state where not the people but the mafia have begun to fear the system. Prashant Kumar observed that this transformation has come within the same system that existed in the past, with the same officials and officialdom, but a different dispensation and approach.
Responding to a pertinent question about allegations raised over the encounter of dreaded criminal Vikas Dubey while Kumar was the DGP of UP, Kumar said that a section of the media and so-called human rights activists and intellectuals allege that the Police encountered Dubey out of a feeling of revenge and strongly refuted that the Police indulge in revenge in such cases. He said that Dubey was a dreaded criminal who was very powerful and influential and had even killed a number of police officials, and in one particular case, killed at least eight police officials, including a Gazetted Officer, who were trying to enter his territory to arrest him. The question of revenge does not arise because the Police do not work with a mentality of revenge. He added that the Vikas Dubey encounter case was subjected to a judicial inquiry headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and two retired High Court judges, and the team did not find anything wrong with the encounter. Kumar insisted that the Police are bound by protocols and the Supreme Court’s guidelines, but yes, the police force can act tough against hardcore criminals if given a free hand to deal with them. In the past eight years, UP has become much safer, riots and mafia free to a great extent because of its visionary leadership by the chief executive officer, referring to CM Yogi Adityanath without actually naming him.
He said that UP has witnessed a huge transformation from being a badland to becoming a state which is peaceful and where citizens feel safe and criminals are scared.
Ashok Kumar expressed strong resentment at the glorification of criminals as heroes and said that it is not justified. He was referring to the character of Rahman Dakait portrayed by noted film actor Akshaye Khanna in the film Dhurandar currently showing across the globe in theatres. He added that good moral characters and good cops’ stories must also be promoted. He also took on so-called human rights activists for questioning the encounters of dreaded criminals or Naxals or terrorists but never questioning the killings of security and police personnel by the criminals. He also justified the continued bulldozer action in UP under directions from the top leadership of UP and reminded that the existing law permits bulldozing of ill-acquired properties or encroached property and added that a similar law exists in Uttarakhand too.
Ashok Kumar reminded that his first posting as an IPS officer was in Prayagraj district in undivided UP where mafia don Atiq Ahmed was active. He reminded that at the time of his posting there in 1991, Ahmed was emerging as a big mafia don with the support of politicians who ruled UP at that time.
Prashant Kumar stated that criminals such as Atiq Ahmed or Mukhtar Ansari or Vikas Dubey had a sense of power and a belief that they could get away with anything, and after becoming powerful with the support of politicians for a while, they themselves started becoming active in politics and became MPs or MLAs instead of merely financing the politicians.
Insisting that the police force in current UP is working with a policy of zero tolerance against mafia and organised crime and with better law and order, he reminded that even those who were killed in encounters by UP Police in recent times under the present government, like Atiq Ahmed, Vikas Dubey and Mukhtar Ansari, were convicted criminals, and added that the rate of conviction in UP has shot up significantly under the present government. Over 120 mafia currently behind bars are convicted, and around 20 killed in encounters were also convicted criminals. He further added that, given a free hand, it is criminal for police officers not to act tough against the mafia. Ashok Kumar totally agreed and said that there are certain bureaucrats and police officers who, though perceived as honest, choose not to work hard to bring any change and termed this as negligence of duty. He lamented that such officers believe in “no work and no complaint”. To this, Prachi felt that Indian mythology, as reminded by Adi Shankaracharya, advocates religious texts as well as weapons when required to protect the dharma.
Anirudhya Mitra observed that crime reporting is often biased as it presents only one perspective, that of criminals or that of the police, and insisted on a balanced approach showing all aspects of crimes and criminal cases, including the view of police officers.
