To,
Hon’ble Justice Bilal Nazki,
Chairman,
Bihar Human Rights Commission,
Patna

Subject- Regarding certain report about Sri Amitabh Kumar Das, IPS currently posted as SP, BHRC, Patna

Respected Sir,

I am Amitabh Thakur, an IPS officer in UP Cadre, who also works in the field of transparency and accountability in governance on my personal endeavour.

I am writing this letter in my individual capacity where I make a few humble submissions as regards an incidence I came to know through Media related with Sri Amitabh Kumar Das, IPS currently posted as SP, Bihar Human Rights Commission (BHRC), Patna.

As per the media reports, Sri Das has sent a report to Inspector General (Special Branch) of Bihar Police Sri Jitendra Gangwar, on the alleged links of a newly inducted union minister with the Ranvir Sena, which is allegedly a banned organization. As per these reports, Sri Das has also requested Sri Gangwar to inform the Intelligence Bureau about this report, where he has presented certain grounds on which he has based his conclusions.

The media reports say that BHRC issued a notice to Sri Das seeking explanation on having sent this report on behalf of BHRC and has also sent a copy of the show cause letter to DGP, Bihar for information.

The reports say that a prominent political leader from Bihar has sought Sri Das’ immediate suspension saying that Sri Das exceeded his jurisdiction by writing a letter to the IG (Special Branch).

It is a well-known fact that departmental actions like seeking explanations etc are completely the prerogative of the employer and the superior authorities manning the concerned organizations. If the superior authorities feel a subordinate member of the organization has transgressed the prescribed norms, he has every right to seek explanations and/or to take appropriate punitive action against the recalcitrant subordinate authority. No outsider has any right to intervene in these internal proceedings which are a complete prerogative of the superior authority.

As someone who is working for transparency and accountability in governance, I fully honour this time-tested and universally accepted norm and hence I cannot even dare to try to interject in between.

But at the same time, as a concerned citizen of this Nation, I certainly do have every right and duty to present my personal opinion to the concerned authorities as regards a matter which agitates me and where I feel that my positive intervention might be of any assistance in the interest of justice and for larger public interest.

This being one such matter having extremely large public interest repercussions, I beg to present my personal perspectives and certain facts to the best of my knowledge which might assist in arriving at final conclusion in this matter.

To begin with, I do not personally have any idea about the correctness of the allegations made by Sri Das in his letter to the Special Branch but I do believe in the established administrative principle that anything stated on records by a public servant should be treated as being correct, unless otherwise proved. This principle becomes all the more valid when the person making the statement on record is a senior IPS officer.

Secondly, no one would disagree with me that whatever Sri Das did- that of having come forward  and having presented certain sensitive facts that he allegedly knows about a newly inducted Union Minister, is definitely a bold and courageous move. Hence to me as individual, Sri Das will remain a person to be appreciated as long as it gets proved with reasonable certainty that his allegations were false and were made for ulterior motives.

Thirdly, it is a well-known fact that a police officer (and any public servant) is presumed to be on duty 24 hours. Similarly every police officer (and every public servant) is presumed to serve the public through all possible legal means at all times. Rule 3(1) of the All India Services Conduct Rules 1968, which apply to Sri Das, clearly says that every member of the Service shall at all times maintain absolute integrity and devotion to duty and shall do nothing which is unbecoming of a member of the Service.

To make it more clear, there has been an amendment in the Conduct Rules in 2014 which came on existence on 06/08/2014 which says at Rule 3(2B)- “Every member of the Service shall:— (i) commit himself to and uphold the supremacy of the Constitution and democratic values; (ii) defend and uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of State, public order, decency and morality; XXX  (iv) take decisions solely in public interest and use or cause to use public resources efficiently, effectively and economically”.

Thus the Amendments made in 2014 make it mandatory for every IPS officer including Sri Das to commit himself to and uphold the supremacy of the Constitution and democratic values and to defend and uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of State and public order.

The fact of a Union Minister allegedly having improper relations with a banned organization being written to the Special Wing will definitely be considered full commitment of an IPS officer towards his services of trying to uphold the supremacy of the constitution and democratic values and also trying to uphold the integrity of India, the security of State and public order. The fact that he is posted in SHRC and not in Intelligence department or in field duty do not prima-facie seem to alter the situation because these Conduct Rules are applicable to an IPS officer all the time and are not merely limited to an officer placed in field duty etc. These conduct rules also seem to make it clear that an IPS officer, irrespective of his place of posting, need to work to uphold the supremacy of the constitution and democratic values and also trying to uphold the integrity of India, the security of State and public order, which Sri Das would be credited to have done, as long as he is not proved discredited and is not proved to have acted with improper motives.

If what Sri Das has written is proved incorrect, he must be taken to task for providing false information. But this thing can be proved only after any formal or informal inquiry or investigation. As long as the matter has not been enquired, it seems imperative to be treated as being correct and in such circumstances he only seems to have moved a few extra miles to undertake his duty as per his Conduct Rules.

We would all agree that BHRC is there for safeguarding the Human Rights of the people of Bihar and this includes taking strong action against any person indulging in violent activities and being part of an extremist organization because it is everyone’s knowledge that any kind of insurgency, upheaval or extremist activity always takes its toil as regards Human Rights of the people living in these areas. It is well-known that no extremist organization has ever been sincere to implementation of Human Rights.

Hence, as a concerned citizen of this Nation, committed to uphold the supremacy of the constitution and democratic values and to uphold the integrity of India, the security of State and public order, I most humbly request you to kindly keep these facts, while taking any decision on this matter,  in the larger public interest.

Yours
(Amitabh Thakur)
5/426, Viram Khand,
Gomti Nagar, Lucknow
# 94155-34526
[email protected]

Copy to-

1.       Union Home Secretary, Government of India

2.       Principal Secretary, Home Department, Government of Bihar, Patna

3.       Director General of Police, Bihar, Patna

With humble request to kindly get the facts/allegations made by Sri Amitabh Kumar Das, IPS, SP, BHRC enquired and to take appropriate action accordingly, considering the extremely wide ramifications of his allegations

मूल खबर….

गिरिराज सिंह को रणवीर सेना का संरक्षक बताने वाले आईपीएस अमिताभ दास बोले- ”मैं किसी कार्यवाई से डरने वाला नहीं”