Search the Internet          Tips

Punish erring Gujarat officials: Harsh Mandar

Harsh Mandar, the IAS officer who quit the service protesting against the failure of the state machinery to check the violence in Gujarat, on Tuesday called for evolving a mechanism for making officials who either fail to check violence or collude with rioters accountable.

Speaking at a meeting in Hyderabad on the post-violence situation in Gujarat, Mandar recalled that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has ordered an independent inquiry into the failure of the civil and police officials to perform their basic duties.

Terming the role of some IAS and IPS officials in Gujarat as 'shameful', he said efforts were being made within the IAS fraternity to identify their wayward colleagues in Gujarat.

"Officials who played a criminal role in the riots should be identified on the basis of evidence, which should be documented and published, and brought to the attention of the public," he said.

Mandar, who now works for a non-governmental organisation Action Aid, warned that 'if such officials go unpunished, they will become even more blatant'.

"This is not a common crime. It is like a surgeon killing a patient," he said.

"If they had not bowed to political pressure and performed their duty, the worst they would have faced was a transfer, but their conscience would have been clear and they could have held their head high with pride. But most failed to show any courage or conviction," he observed.

He praised the role of the few upright officials who performed their duty in the face of political pressure to the contrary.

He asserted that a riot or incidence of violence cannot continue for more than a few hours if the government decided to act.

"In Indore, when I was a relatively junior IAS officer, a similar kind of riot was engineered. The district magistrate and the superintendent of police vanished from the scene, leaving instructions that nobody should open fire without their orders."

"But as the seniormost officer on the spot, I called out the army and issued shoot-at-sight orders and brought the situation under control within one hour," he recalled.

Referring to the current situation in Gujarat, he said the state government was unwilling to do anything to help the victims of the violence.

"Almost 20,000 persons continue to live in relief camps, but the government has refused to provide them with water-proof tents in views of the monsoon. The government has also threatened to stop providing rations to them on the ground that it has already paid them compensation," he said.

However, a group of 30 non-governmental organisations, under the aegis of the Citizens' Initiative, have put up some water-proof tents and were trying to ensure supply of rations, he told the gathering.

The Sabarmati in Flames: Complete Coverage

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report