Of 822 tainted cops in Punjab, 17% being probed for corruption
Department of home affairs deputy secretary Vijay Singh Chauhan submitted the report after a high court order in September in which the state was told to submit details of FIRs against all serving state police officers along with the nature of criminal cases.
A report submitted in the Punjab and Haryana high court shows that 17% (140) of the 822 policemen booked in the state are facing allegations of corruption, followed by 8% (68) being probed in drug cases.
Department of home affairs deputy secretary Vijay Singh Chauhan has submitted the report after a high court order in September in which the state was told to submit details of FIRs against all serving state police officers along with the nature of criminal cases.
Of the 822 cops, 18 are inspectors, 24 sub-inspectors, 170 assistant sub-inspectors and the remaining are constables and head constables.
The report does not capture data of cops booked and working under Patiala and Rupnagar ranges and the commissionerate of police in Ludhiana. The report is silent on FIRs against senior officers of the rank of PPS and IPS. Punjab has 80,000 cops.
The report shows that 27 (3%) of tainted cops are being investigated for allegation of rapes, gangrapes and sexual offences against minors. 18 cops (2.1%) are such booked and being probed for their role in murder cases and 29 (3%) are being probed for domestic violence cases. In other categories of offences, 538 cops are being probed.
The data was sought on the plea of Moga resident Surjit Singh, who had approached the court challenging his dismissal order that Moga SSP had passed. Surjit had told the court that a criminal case against him was pending adjudication, and the dismissal order was discriminatory, as a large number of police officers, who are facing criminal cases are still in service.
The data also reveals that out of these 822 cops there are 75 FIRs against cops working in battalions, 140 cops are being probed in the commissionerate of Jalandhar and 70 cops in the commissionerate of Amritsar. There are 82 cops booked for offences under the Faridkot range, 117 under the Border range, 55 under the Ludhiana range, 100 under the Bathinda range and 146 under the Jalandhar range.