DGP says apology unwarranted; HDR in the dark
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: When the entire civil society is behind the two traffic officials who had issued a summons slip to the Assembly Privileges Committee Chairman, Ronnie V Lyngdoh, Additional DGP, Rajiv Mehta visited Lyngdoh’s house on Tuesday morning to apologise on behalf of his juniors.
Following Mehta’s visit, Lyngdoh has agreed to withdraw the summons against the two police personnel, although the MLA claims that it was a case of “mutual understanding” between him and the top cop.
Constable Thapa and Inspector Cherry Shadap were supposed to appear before the Privileges Committee on Tuesday afternoon. Mehta pre-empted that by paying a visit to the residence of the Committee Chairman, RV Lyngdoh.
Reiterating the reason behind the summons, Lyngdoh said he was compelled to take this drastic step because of the adamant attitude of the police constable.
“I requested him to give me five minutes time to park my vehicle since my wife had gone to meet the doctor. But the police constable was not ready to listen to me and insisted that I should accept the summons slip,” Lyngdoh said.
He said what annoyed him was that the place where he was disallowed to park his vehicle had a stall which was erected for selling Christmas decorations. While stating that he was not against the stall, Lyngdoh said his stance was that vehicles should also be allowed to park on that same site.
When contacted, Mehta was not available for comments as his mobile was switched off.
Meanwhile, the Meghalaya DGP N Ramachandran who is presently on leave while talking to The Shillong Times said, “There is no question of apologizing to anyone for carrying out a duty. I stand by the two police personnel who are actually executing specific orders.”
Mr Ramachandran said the constables were carrying out their duties on his specific orders. “I had called the Superintendents of Police (SPs) and various officials of the three districts (East Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills and Ri Bhoi) on account of the persistent traffic problems and asked them to be strict in enforcing traffic laws. If at all any punishment is due then I should be punished and not the constables. I should be summoned before the Privileges Committee, not the junior officers.”
Meanwhile the other members of the Privileges Committee today accused its Chairman Ronnie V Lyngdoh of acting arbitrarily and not consulting them before issuing notices to the two police personnel, who had booked him for violating traffic laws, to appear before the committee.
”We were never consulted before sending summons to the two police officials,” some members of the Committee told reporters on condition of anonymity.
According to rules, complaints are first referred to the Speaker who in turn asks the Committee to deliberate on the merits of the complaint. After a proper discussion is held amongst the members, summons are sent based on consensus. In Lyngdoh’s case, there was no such consensus as no meeting was held in the first place.
Reacting to his fellow members’ statement, Lyngdoh said, ‘It is not necessary to call the meeting. Summoning them is not to take punitive action against them. He further said, ”Since the top police official came to my residence it can now be deduced who was wrong.”
Meanwhile, Home Minister, HDR Lyngdoh said he was unaware of any senior police official going to Lyngdoh’s residence and tendering an apology on behalf of the two police officials.
”Nobody is above law and everyone should be treated equally. Even if I break the law, the law should take its own course,” the Home Minister stated.
Earlier, several prominent organisations have decried Lyngdoh’s action in summoning two traffic police personnel.
Last week a traffic policeman had slapped a fine of Rs 1000 on Community and Rural Development Minister Saleng A Sangma for wrong parking. Sangma paid the fine without much ado. (With inputs from agencies)