125 police officers have faced dept inquiry: RTI

Preetu Venugopalan Nair, PANAJI: TNN, Sep 9, 2010 :

Over 50% of Goa's police officials from the rank of police sub-inspector to superintendent of police have faced some form of disciplinary action at some point of time in their careers spanning anywhere from five to 20 years in the police department.

Information procured by social activist Aires Rodrigues under the Right to Information (RTI) Act shows that of 233 officers from the rank of PSI to SP, almost 125 have faced disciplinary action at some time or the other during their service with the Goa police. A majority of these are presently PIs or DySPs. Moreover, of the 14 SPs posted in Goa, only six have not faced any disciplinary action during their stint with the state police department.

Sources said departmental or disciplinary inquiries are conducted against officers who have erred either in their personal or professional capacity. The reasons for inquiry vary from complaints of an officer not discharging his/her duty properly to goofing up investigations and even allegations of abetting crime.

"If found guilty during the departmental or disciplinary inquiry, disciplinary action is taken against the officer," said sources.

The figure gets worse as one goes from the rank of SP to PSI; of the 24 DySPs in the Goa police 22 have faced disciplinary action at some point of time in their careers. The two DySPs who have never faced any disciplinary action rarely had any field posting.

Similarly, of the 53 PIs, most of them posted as police station in-charges, almost 43 have faced disciplinary action; while of the 142 PSIs only 90 have managed to maintain a clean record. Incidentally, even women officers have not fared well. Of the 20 women officers, 8 have faced disciplinary action.

DIG Ravindra Yadav, when contacted, said, "The figures don't necessarily reflect on the capability or performance of the police officers. It only goes to show that we in the Goa police really stick to a zero tolerance policy. Even good police officers have been punished at some point of their career for minor complaints, which just shows how stressful a policeman's job is and how professional we are in our approach as compared to other government departments."