DSP apologises to House committee

SHILLONG: DSP (Traffic) W Momin appeared before the Privilege Committee of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly on Thursday and tendered his apology after Rambrai Jyrngam MLA Kimfa Marbaniang lodged a complaint against the officer for being rude to him recently.
According to Marbaniang, on August 7, Momin had “knocked” on his vehicle when he was caught in a traffic snarl on the way from Mawkhar to Garikhana and asked him to remove the tinted glass.
Marbaniang said he identified himself as a public representative and told the officer he was entitled to tinted glass on his vehicle. At this, the officer said he could remove it if he wanted. “Then I told him you can go ahead but he did not dare to do so,” the MLA said in the complaint.
The MLA complained that the officer’s action was an insult to a public representative adding that government officials should know who the 60 MLAs are.
The Committee while hearing the matter called the DGP and home secretary to discuss on the behaviour and sensitisation programme for officers.
Speaking to media persons, member of the Committee, HM Shangpliang, said Momin has tendered his apology.
The Committee has asked Momin to appear before it again on Friday with a written apology, Shangpliang said. The Committee will decide on whether to consider the apology after seeing it, he said.
Shangpliang said the Committee will meet again to examine whether any action ought to be also initiated against the SP (Traffic) for having disclosed to the media about the summons served on Momin because he wanted to remove the tinted glass of an MLA’s vehicle. The SP’s action, he said, had left the image of not only Marbaniang but all MLAs tarnished.
“This inappropriate action of the Traffic SP was uncalled for without really knowing the reason for which the Committee had summoned the officer.
He had assumed that the Committee had summoned the Dy SP because he wanted to perform his duty,” Shangpliang said.
Shangpliang said that the matter was brought to the notice of the home secretary and the DGP. He said the DGP, who was not aware, will conduct an inquiry into the action of the Traffic SP.
“He himself has violated the privileges and therefore, the committee is going to sit again to examine whether any action should also be taken against the Traffic SP ,” Shangpliang said.
Earlier, chairman of the Committee, Saleng Sangma, said the DGP and Home secretary admitted that the matter had gone out of hand even before it was taken up by the Privilege Committee.
“It was not about the tinted glass, it was about behaviour of the police officer. All MLAs know about the Supreme Court ruling on tinted glass, but the fact is that the media presented only one side of the story, not about the officer’s unbecoming behavior,” he said.
He also said that Momin was willing to apologise even to Marbaniang.
Shangpliang said the officer had behaved rudely with the MLA even after the latter had identified himself.
“Marbaniang felt very insulted as many among the crowd gathered there knew him as an MLA, but the officer despite also knowing he was an MLA refused to acknowledge it,” Shangpliang said.
Committee receives flak
Former Home Minister RG Lyngdoh expressed his displeasure at the Privilege Committee summoning the police officer describing the act as “colonial attitude.”
“The concept of Privileges Committee is outdated and it should be revisited and our legislators should not feel that after the elections, they are above the people and laws are different for them,” he said.
He said that in today’s age, there is a need to have a bridge which will connect legislators and the people while adding that the entire issue of DSP misbehaving with the MLA could have been handled at a lower level without summoning him.
“Our legislators instead of building a wall around them and putting themselves above the people should build bridges to them. If an ordinary person cannot use screens in their vehicles, then what public work of the representative requires him to have a tinted glass on his vehicle,” he said.