Bengal governor C. V. Ananda Bose has sought a report from chief minister Mamata Banerjee on action taken against city police commissioner Vineet Goyal and deputy commissioner of police, central division, Indira Mukherjee, based on a report that he had sent to the Centre and the chief minister.
The governor has also sought a report on the state’s stance on a CBI probe into the incidents of disrobing a woman in public, the public flogging of a man and his purported fiancee in North Dinajpur and the operation of kangaroo courts in the state.
In a post in the X-handle of Raj Bhavan, he wrote: “Upon the authority vested in the Hon’ble Governor under Article 167 of the Constitution of India, Honorable Chief Minister has been called upon to submit the reports on : 1. Action taken against the Commission of Police and the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kolkata on the report sent by the Hon’ble Governor to the Government of India and the Hon’ble Chief Minister.”
“2. CBI enquiry into the violent incidents of disrobing a woman in public, public flogging of a couple and operation of Kangaroo Courts with no effective action by Police,” he added in the post.
The step by the governor came after he sent two letters — on June 6 and June 20 — to union home minister Amit Shah suggesting action against the chief secretary, B. P. Gopalika and the two IPS officers alleging the officers flouted provisions that govern All India Service (AIS) officers.
In his report against the IPS officers, Bose highlighted how the city police prevented victims of post-poll violence from meeting the governor despite his permission.
The report of the governor also mentioned that Goyal formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) with unusual speed despite knowing that Article 361 of the Constitution of India bars the institution/continuation of any criminal proceedings against the constitutional head of the state.
Allegations against Mukherjee were similar in nature other than the specific allegation that she spoke to the media about the claims with “added colour and flavor”.
The tweet of Raj Bhavan became a topic of discussion at the state secretariat Nabanna as most of the officers said that the governor perhaps sought the report after he realised that the centre cannot take any disciplinary action against the All India Service officers including the IPS officers serving in a state.
“Though the cadre controlling authority of the IPS officers is the MHA, disciplinary actions or departmental proceedings can be initiated only by the state where the officer is serving. The centre at the most can send a proposal to take action against any officer to the concerned state government where the officer is working, but it would be solely on the state whether to take any action against the officer,” said a senior bureaucrat.
“The state government primarily feels that the officers did nothing wrong after the complaint was lodged by the woman… The state would go through into the actions of the officers once again and a report would be submitted to the Raj Bhavan,” said a source.
Regarding the CBI inquiry into the incidents of North Dinajpur and Cooch Behar where a couple was flogged publicly and a woman was disrobed allegedly in the last week of June, officials in Nabanna believed that police have taken enough action against the culprits.
“The main accused in the public flogging case has been arrested… And all other cases including setting up Kangaroo Courts and disrobing a woman are being investigated. Culprits would be arrested in due course of time. So we don’t think that there was a need for a CBI inquiry into the incidents,” said a bureaucrat aware of the development.
