Then Rohtak DC, IG blamed for ‘inaction’

Sunit Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, May 31

The Prakash Singh Committee report has castigated top police and administrative officials posted in the district at the time of the violent Jat agitation for failing to perform their duties.

“Rohtak was the epicenter of the entire agitation. Had the agitation been dealt with effectively in Rohtak and contained there, the chain reaction of the kind that took place would not have happened,” the report observes.

The committee has maintained that Shrikant Jadhav, the then IGP of the Rohtak Range, was the seniormost police officer present in Rohtak. Had he risen to the occasion, the complexion of events would probably have been very different.

The report points out that AK Singh, IAS, and B.S. Sandhu, IPS, who were deputed to go to Rohtak and assist the local administration, found Shrikant Jadhav “very unstable and highly emotional”.

The committee has also expressed dissatisfaction with the functioning of the then Rohtak Deputy Commissioner, DKBehera.

“Behera struck us as a well-meaning but an inexperienced and immature officer. Rohtak district threw up a very challenging situation and he was unequal to that. The senior IAS/IPS officers who were sent to Rohtak found that “there was a complete breakdown of civil and police administration and situation was very tense”.

The committee maintains that the Deputy Commissioner had a very fragile control over his own subordinates. Several members of the public, who appeared before the Committee, had the same complaint, that the Deputy Commissioner was of no help and that his stock reply for assistance was, “Sorry, I am helpless ”.