Politicians shouldn’t dictate police on their jobs: Ex-police commissioner of Kolkata

Gautam Mohan Chakraborty, former Commissioner of Police, Kolkata said on Monday that politicians should not dictate the police on their jobs.

Gautam Mohan Chakraborty, the former Commissioner of Kolkata Police, on Monday said that politicians should not dictate the police on their jobs. He said that in the same manner that the defence minister does not ask about the war plans to the army chiefs, politicians should also give functional autonomy to the police.

Chakraborty was speaking at a session titled, ‘Power, Politics and Patronage: The Long Road to Police Reforms’ at the India Today Conclave East.

Conclave East 2022 Full Coverage

Responding to Chakraborty's remark, Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, the Director General of Assam Police, said Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in his first cabinet meeting directed all his colleagues not to interrupt the procedures taken up by the police.

Mahanta, however, said there is no question that the police are liable to the law and that any action of the police is subject to legal procedure. He said that despite the numerous encounters in Assam, the police have so far not been held responsible for killing anyone who wasn't supposed to be killed.

Chakraborty's statement was in response to a question raised on the affidavit submitted by the Assam government to the Guwahati High Court which revealed that a total of 51 people have died and an additional 139 were injured during police action since May 2021.

Meanwhile, Surajit Kar Purkayastha, the former Director General of Police in West Bengal responded to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data that West Bengal stands second on political killings in the country. He said, “Political violence has always been attributed to West Bengal but that is not the case. Most of them are personal but attributed as political killings.”