Former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and Mumbai Commissioner of Police Julio Ribeiro, 91, wrote an open letter to IPS officers on “ fake encounters ” and said political compulsions have changed. He also said that the custodial death in the Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu, “is even more disturbing and every policeman in India should hang his head in shame”.
Mr. Ribeiro addressed the officers as “my brothers” and said, “I do not intend even to advise, because times have changed, political compulsions have changed and more importantly, politicians are of a different breed from the freedom-fighters who formulated policy in post-Independent India. But the values of honesty, compassion, yearning for truth and justice, commitment to the law and the Constitution are always constant and should hold the first spot in your mind’s eye whenever you think, decide and finally act.”
The former Director General of Police for Punjab and Gujarat, also wrote, “The politicians will not ask you to allow criminals to operate. They may ease you out of your position at the top, but that is a much nobler option than to be privy to the creation of a Vikas Dubey ! And speaking of Vikas Dubey, his elimination involved usurping the role of the judiciary! The investigators should not be empowered to prosecute and judge, as is happening in the country now! Do you consider this wise or just or civilized? Do you feel the necessity of a police state called India? The rise of criminals who ambush and kill law enforcers, who escape so easily from their custody, snatch the policemen’s weapons and Rambo like take them on, till killed is so common now and so routinely applauded by the middle classes that political bosses have turned calamity into pasture grounds on the ooze of which they can feed!”
‘Shameful’
He added, “The murder of the father and son duo in the Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu is even more disturbing because cruelty had consumed the perpetrators to such an extent that even middle-class support did not materialise. Shameful! Every policeman in India should hang his head in shame.”
Senseless deaths: The Hindu Editorial on Tamil Nadu custodial deaths
He said, “There is nothing much you can do to sway the politicians, but you can surely compel your own men to desist from supporting the criminals thereby shaking one important leg of the three-legged nexus!”
Sattankulam custodial deaths | When protectors turn perpetrators
Mr. Ribeiro ended the letter by saying, “I am sure you will devise a strategy where fake encounters and brutal methods of interrogation are abandoned in favour of not allowing Vikas Dubeys to rise in the first place and in favour of quick trials of Vikas Dubeys who slip through your net! I beg I.P.S officers to please stop the ugly spectacle of jockeying and lobbying for cutting-edge posts in the hierarchy. This involves the sale of your independence to political bosses who in turn will ‘request’ you to do things that you know will weaken your own authority over those you have to command!”
