The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) last week suspended its Deputy Inspector General (DIG) after launching a probe against him for allegedly posting audio and video messages on social media calling for “change of government established by law”.
But members of retired paramilitary cadre officers’ welfare associations claim that the action against Bidhan Chandra Patra came about because his family joined the protests against the Central Armed Police Forces Bill passed by Parliament in April, and promoted videos of such protests on social media.
The CAPF Public Administration Act, 2006 creates a uniform legal framework for all the five CAPFs and codifies the mandate of Indian Police Service (IPS) officers at senior levels.
Cadre officers’ associations have long opposed the practice and have waged a legal battle with the government against the appointment of IPS officers as delegates to lead forces, and the lack of cadre review of non-IPS officers, resulting in them being overlooked in leadership roles.
According to the investigation order, dated June 10 and seen by HT, an Inspector General rank officer has been directed to investigate all internal communications/digital records to which the officer had access in the last 12 months and also to look into encrypted communications, including WhatsApp messages, to establish the truth of the allegations. Batra, a non-Indian police officer, returned to the CRPF in April from the National Security Guard where he was on deputation. He was posted in CRPF’s Tripura sector when the suspension order was issued on June 17, even as the investigation report was pending.
The June 10 order also directed the investigating officer to examine whether a violation of the Official Secrets Act had occurred and assess the extent of possible information leakage.
“The officer has won awards for his operations in Jammu and Kashmir and other rugged areas. Many of these officers were targeted due to their families holding peaceful protests against the bill. However, they were not present in the protests. We will share details of this discrimination against several officers on July 2 in a press conference,” said Ranbir Singh, general secretary of the former Paramilitary Forces Welfare Association.
The alliance’s president, retired Additional Director General of CRPF (ADG) HR Singh, said there were instances where some officers were prematurely transferred from the National Capital Region because their families participated in the CAPF protests. “Peaceful protest is a democratic right. The All Ex-Paramilitary Welfare Association Alliance has decided to hold a press conference on this discriminatory and targeted approach adopted by the CRPF by taking such extreme action against its most disciplined officer (Patra), which is extremely frustrating for the force.”
The alliance said DIG Patra was suspended under sub-rule (1) of Rule 10 of the Central Civil Services (CCA) Rules, 1965. This rule allows any authority appointed by the President to suspend a government employee pending disciplinary action in cases where the employee is involved in activities that are against the interest of the state.
“All serving and uniformed officers of CRPF are bound by the rules, laws and oath taken. Any word, written or spoken or action that is contrary to the same will be dealt with appropriately in accordance with the law of the land,” CRPF Director General JP Singh told HT. Batra was not available for comment.
