EC transfers five more ?biased? cops

The EC has transferred five more policemen responding to adverse reports from observers and Oppn charges of partisan behaviour.

The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday transferred five more policemen—all of them Ocs—responding to adverse reports from observers and Opposition charges of partisan behaviour. It also directed that the officers be posted to stations where they cannot influence the conduct and outcome of the polls.

HT Image

Announcing the transfers on receiving a faxed message from the poll panel, the state chief electoral officer Basudeb Banerjee named the five officers as Saikat Ray, OC, Pandaveswar, Gour Gopal Mukherjee, OC, Hirapur, Sailaja Singh, OC, Andal, Sagar Saha, OC, Chapra, and Satyajit Banerjee, OC, Lake Police Station.

Incidentally, as many as three of the five were in charge of police stations in the Red bastion of Burdwan. Though the CEO assigned no reason for their transfer, all five OCs had been accused by the Opposition of pro-government loyalties.

Lake Police OC Satyajit Banerjee, for instance, had serious complains against him, and the complainants included Trinamool chief and South Kolkata MP Mamata Banerjee.

The OC had also been rapped by the state Human Rights Commission for harassing three teenagers on the basis of a businessman’s complaints and for having forced them to drink urine. The complaints against Chapra OC Sagar Saha were from BJP MP and Minister of State for Chemical Fertiliser Satyabrata Mukherjee.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M) has levelled allegations against four observers. The party said the observers had overstepped their jurisdiction by asking voters who their preferred candidates were. Ratnamala Rawla, observer for Asansol, had asked voters why they would vote for the CPI(M), the party alleged.