Jat stir: Departmental action recommended against 15 cops

Chandigarh: Departmental action has been recommended against 15 police personnel of Rohtak district, including 8 SHOs, on the basis of a report by Parkash Singh Committee which probed the role of police and civil administration officials during the Jat reservation stir.

These erring police officials have been adversely commented upon for dereliction of duty in the government- appointed committee report, an official order stated today.

The Rohtak SP has been asked to initiate departmental action against the erring cops.

Besides other police personnel, the erring SHOs have been charged with failure to protect units/establishments including the residence of Finance Minister Abhimanyu, two shopping malls, three school buildings, plant of a leading paint manufacturing company, a gun house, several shops and "cowardice and failure to protect police station, Meham, from being damaged/looted".

The development comes a day after three Haryana Civil Service officers and 10 DSP rank officers were suspended, a week after the Committee report found "deliberate negligence" on the part of 90 officials, including IAS and IPS officers, during the Jat agitation in February.

On May 17, the Haryana government had shunted out Additional Chief Secretary (Home) P K Das who was replaced by senior IAS officer Ram Niwas.

Around 90 officers were indicted for "deliberate negligence" during the Jat quota agitation by the committee and adverse comments were made against them in its report submitted to the chief minister on May 13.

The Committee had inquired into the role of officers starting from the rank of Sub-Inspector to SP and Naib Tehsildar or duty Magistrate to the rank of Deputy Commissioner in the violence-affected districts of Rohtak, Jhajjar, Jind, Hisar, Kaithal, Bhiwani, Sonepat and Panipat.

Thirty people were killed in violence and there was extensive damage to properties during the stir whose epicentre was Rohtak district.