New
Delhi:
Police officers who cosy up with the government of the day and make money
illegally inevitably face payback time when there is a change in guard, the
Supreme Court of India said today. Such cops must not be protected but must be
jailed, Chief Justice NV Ramana said, though he did grant interim protection
from arrest till October 1 to the official facing extortion charges.
Suspended
IPS officer Gurjinder Pal Singh had moved the court against arrest in a case of
disproportionate assets and sedition filed by the Chhattisgarh government. The
interim protection was granted because two other connected cases, in which Mr
Singh was earlier granted similar relief, are listed for hearing on October 1.
Chief
Justice Ramana today directed him to fully cooperate with the investigating
agency without fail.
“You
can't take protection in every case. You started extracting money because you
are close with the government. This is what happens if you're close with the
government and do these things. You have to pay back one day,” Chief Justice
Ramana said.
“When
you're good with the government, you may extract. Then you've to pay back with
interest...This is too much. Why should we grant protection to such officers?
This is a new trend in the country.”
Mr.
Singh's counsel then pleaded that officers like him need protection. The court,
however, shot back: “No, they've to go to jail.”
Yet,
Chief Justice Ramana granted Mr Singh interim protection and issued a notice to
the Chhattisgarh government.
In
its last hearing on August 26, the court had granted protection from arrest to
the suspended officer in another connected case. It had then expressed concern
over the “emerging trend” of police officers facing sedition charges following
a change of guard in the state government.
The
Chief Justice had said that as long as a police officer sides with the party in
power, things go smoothly. Once a new party comes to power, sedition and other
charges are slapped on the same officer, he said.
The
sedition case was filed against Mr Singh based on a written complaint filed by
the state Anti-Corruption Bureau following preliminary findings that he had
amassed disproportionate assets.
The
anti-graft body reportedly seized documents from Mr Singh that suggested his
involvement in a conspiracy against the government.
The
next hearing in the case is on October 1.
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