MINORITY HOLE IN GUJARAT POLICE FORCE 

Ahmedabad, March 26 :    Ahmedabad, March 26:  After taking power in 1998, Gujarat's BJP government appears to have been following a deliberate policy of keeping police officers from the minority community off the field and bound to the desk. As a result, not a single IPS officer from the minority community is now on a 'field posting'. The government has been charged with doing nothing to stop the riots that followed the Godhra massacre, with police standing accused of being partisan. All eight IPS officers in the state from the minority community - one additional DGP, three IGPs and four superintendents of police - are working in insignificant 'support systems' and not engaged in 'active policing'. As many as 27 senior police officers who had taken action against the rioters have been transferred, say sources. Vivek Srivastava, who did an outstanding job in controlling the riots in Kutch as the district's superintendent of police, has been moved as deputy commissioner (prohibition), Ahmedabad. Srivastava had initiated proceedings against VHP and Shiv Sena leaders and suspended a home guard commander, close to the VHP, who had refused to take action against a mob during the riots. Mehsana superintendent of police Anupam Singh Gehlot, who had cracked down on rioters during the Godhra backlash, has been shifted to Bhavnagar. The marginalisation of minority community officers, however, did not start with chief minister Narendra Modi. Before the BJP's reign, police officers used to get postings on merit. How that policy has changed is evident in this example: of the 65 minority community officers of the rank of inspector in Gujarat, only two are handling field jobs. Most minority community officers below the rank of superintendent have been relegated to the CID/crime branch department. According to norms, when an IPS officer is promoted, he is given a field posting. However, in Gujarat, when an IPS officer from the minority community is promoted, he is sent to the computer section or given charge of police housing. A minority community officer of the rank of additional DGP is looking after training, two IGPs attached to the DG office are doing desk jobs and another IGP is in charge of police housing. One IPS officer from the minority community has been posted as DCP, traffic, one as SP, CID (crime) and two are commandants in the state reserve police. Many of these minority community officers are so frustrated that they are looking for an opportunity to move out of the state. There are also allegations of the government recruiting a large number of Sangh parivar sympathisers as home guards and the Gram Rakshak Dal. The state has more than 10,000 home-guards, most of who are VHP or Bajrang Dal members, said a senior officer on condition of anonymity.