(From top) Gaddafi, Saddam and Veerappan

Bangalore, March 31: A high court today dubbed Karnataka police chief Shankar Bidari “worse than” Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi and quashed his appointment for alleged atrocities committed under his command during operations to nab forest brigand Veerappan some 15 years ago.

Bidari and the state government had appealed to Karnataka High Court after the Central Administrative Tribunal struck down his controversial appointment on March 16 over the alleged rights violations of forest tribals.

In his appeal, the director-general of police had said he had merely been the commander of the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu joint task force and was not “omnipresent and omnipotent like Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi”.

But the court observed: “Though he was not one of them, if what the two (tribal) women have said in their affidavit is true, he is worse than them.”

The court ordered that A.R. Infant, on whose petition the tribunal had annulled Bidari’s appointment, be appointed the state director-general and inspector-general in Bidari’s place.

According to a National Human Rights Commission report, the task force, which Bidari headed between 1993 and 1996, had rounded up “hundreds” of tribals under the then-prevalent anti-terror law Tada and tortured them. Many were killed in fake encounters while women were raped, the report says.

But no action had followed, and the state government had ignored the findings while appointing Bidari to the top post on December 1 last year. Infant had then petitioned the tribunal saying seniority and merit had not been considered and pointing out the rights violations charges against Bidari.

“I am extremely happy with the court order,” Infant said today, adding that he had fought only “for a cause since I am soon to retire”.

Both officers are due to retire on May 31 this year, but Infant is senior in service since he was commissioned in 1976 while Bidari had joined the force in 1977.

Bidari said he would appeal to the Supreme Court. “I fail to understand how the honourable high court has decided so,” he said.

Known as a tough officer, Bidari was billed as a “super cop” in the days he was trying to catch Veerappan, who was terrorising a 6,000sqkm forest area stretching across parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Veerappan is alleged to have killed more than 100 policemen, several forest officials and around 200 elephants for their ivory.

Bidari was accused of unleashing terror among the villagers whom he accused of tipping the brigand off about police movements. Many of those arrested on the charge of being Veerappan’s accomplices were in jail when the task force killed the bandit on October 18, 2004.

Infant, a native of Kollam in Kerala, is now director-general of the fire and emergency services, the director of civil defence, and commandant of the state home guard.