Kolkata, June 2 (IANS) Amid several negativities tagged with them during the 15 years of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress regime in West Bengal from 2011 to 2026, Kolkata Police have started undergoing a series of reforms under the new Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP rule in the state, distinctively to revive the force’s past glory as the “Scotland Yard of the East”.
During the last 15 years, there have been several instances where the image of Kolkata Police (previously Calcutta Police) got tarnished, the most prominent of which was the shoddy handling of the investigation into the R.G. Kar rape and murder case.
Already, the new BJP government had ordered reopening of the R.G. Kar files after suspending three IPS officers then linked to the city police, including the erstwhile city police commissioner, Vineet Kumar Goyal.
The city police also came under strong criticism for intelligence failure to identify the miscreants involved in a malicious poster at the residence of Calcutta High Court judge Justice Rajasekhar Mantha in 2023, following a series of judgments by the latter that went against the previous Mamata Banerjee regime.
Finally, the city police authorities, during the last 15 years, had been accused of sending plain-dress cops to the residence and offices of the ardent critics of the previous Trinamool Congress regime and threatening them.
At the same time, the physical fitness factor of a section of the cops with bloated tummies and excess body fat became a matter of ridicule.
Now, to shed all such negative tags and regain its past glory as the “Scotland Yard of the East”, the Kolkata Police have started undergoing a series of reforms with strict disciplinary guidelines since the new West Bengal cabinet under the state’s ninth Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari, took charge on May 9.
Kolkata Police in the past have been credited with several “World’s first” moves like the introduction of “criminal forensics” and the establishment of the “world’s first fingerprint bureau”. The reason why the city police was often referred to as the “Scotland Yard of the East” was because of a well-structured “Detective Department” mastering crime detection.
The most important reform undertaken by the city police is reintroducing the “code for police uniforms” reportedly to stop the rampant misuse of plain-dress cops for political motives.
In a bid to ensure efficiency, the Kolkata Police recently issued an order barring their personnel at all levels from performing official duties in plain dress henceforth, with exceptions for those attached to certain specialised departments. The departments that have been given exemptions include the Detective Department, the Special Branch, the Enforcement Branch, the Special Task Force, and the Cybercrime Division, considering that being in plain dress is an integral part of the duties they perform.
In case any officer or staff attached to departments other than those that do not come under such restrictions are required to go on official duty without a uniform, the personnel concerned will have to seek prior permission from higher authorities.
The officers and staff, barring those five departments, will have to be in uniform while going for raids or arrests or law and order maintenance duties or any other official duty.
Meanwhile, the state government also brought back sidelined senior IPS officers during the Trinamool Congress government tenure to reaffirm people’s trust in the police force. Two IPS officers, Damayanti Sen and K. Jayaraman, who are widely regarded as honest officers, were appointed as member secretaries of two separate commissions.
The panels, headed by retired High Court judges, will investigate allegations of ‘institutional corruption’ and ‘crimes against women’ that took place during the Trinamool government’s 15-year rule.
CM Suvendu Adhikari has given a message of changing the face of the police during a recent administrative meeting in Diamond Harbour. The Chief Minister said that just as specialised police forces are seen in different parts of different countries, the same should be done in this state. He also emphasised modernising the police force. Along with this, the Chief Minister also gave a message to the police personnel to stay fit.
CM Adhikari said that the police personnel should pay attention to physical fitness and strength. Along with this, he said that the number of police personnel in different parts of the state will be increased by 20,000 in the next six months to one year.
At the same time, CM Adhikari also announced the dismantling of the West Bengal Police Welfare Board, which was reportedly run during the previous Trinamool Congress regime by former Kolkata Police Deputy Commissioner Santanu Sinha Biswas, who is currently in Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody over his alleged involvement in money laundering-cum-illegal land grabbing syndicate cases.
Incidentally, the Chief Minister’s announcement came after the decision of the new state government to terminate the two-year service extension granted to Sinha Biswas following his arrest by ED officials. Sinha Biswas, considered an extremely close confidant of former CM Mamata Banerjee, was one of the two coordinators of the said welfare board.
–IANS
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