Eyebrows raised over Batala AAP MLA’s ‘visit’ to Sekhwan police station

Ravi Dhaliwal

Batala, April 20

Batala AAP MLA Amansher Singh Sherry Kalsi has invited the wrath of the cops following his ‘raid’ on a police station accompanied by a battery of local media men last night.

Senior officers say to conduct searches in police stations is not the job of an MLA. They added that he should limit himself to his duties as a legislator and neither interfere nor intervene in the working of the police force. “The Batala police district is a sensitive place as far as policing is concerned. Its proximity to the international border is a well known fact. The regular incursions of drones into Indian territory from Pakistan means the force is overworked. An overworked force is always under stress. To complicate matters when MLAs like Kalsi take the law into their hands, the policemen get demoralised and dejected,” said a senior officer.

The MLA denied that he had raided the entity. “It was just a cursory visit, nothing else,” he clarified.

Last night, Kalsi got a phone call saying some policemen “were drinking in the Sekhwan police station.” Without thinking of the repercussions, he reached out to a section of the media, particularly those reporters who are on good terms with him, and asked them to come along with him. Within half an hour he reached the police station where he found 22 bottles of country made liquor. He started admonishing the staff claiming “they were doing their duty under the influence of liquor.”

What he did not know was that the bottles were part of a case property seized by the police. “An FIR has been registered and the bottles were case property relating to that particular FIR,” said SSP (Ms) Ashwini Gotyal.

She, however, refused to comment on the legality of Kalsi’s search operation.

Officers say the SSP obviously will not comment as the MLA is a part and parcel of the ruling AAP dispensation in Chandigarh.

Before leaving for Sekhwan village, the legislator had informed the SSP. Gotyal, in turn, after listening to his claims that “some cops were drinking” had immediately dispatched DSP (City) Lalit Kumar to the police station.

Kalsi conveniently washed his hands of the entire incident. “I never conducted a raid. It was just a casual visit on my part to see if things were working properly or not. In fact, I caught two cops, one of them being the Munshi of the police station, drinking while on duty. Being a part of the ruling party, it is my responsibility to make sure everything is in order,” he said. To this, an officer said, “Conducting such raids and searches is the sole prerogative of the SSP or any senior officer deputed by the police chief. The MLA should not act as an impediment in the working of the force in any manner. He should be careful in future,” he said.

Officers say such “photo-ops” should stop. A direct fall out of such incursions into police territory is that the lower-level constabulary starts reporting to the legislator thinking that he is more powerful than the SSP.

On some earlier occasions, legislators of Majha region have gone overboard in conducting surprise checks in police stations and government hospitals and also on District Administrative Complexes (DAC). Sources reveal that the CM’s office had taken cognisance of such activities and had even rebuked these MLAs, apart from warning them of indulging in such activities in the future.