Senior officers cannot be put in the dock for actions taken by them in the course of administration that might hurt personnel in the lower rung, said J.R. Lobo, former bureaucrat and Mangaluru City South MLA.
Coming to the defence of the three senior police officers and Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George, who have been named by Deputy Superintendent of Police M.K. Ganapathy before his alleged suicide, Mr. Lobo said that as senior officers they need to take certain actions in the course of administration. “If those actions cause irritation to any lower rung official then it is that individual’s personal affair,” he said.
Senior officials cannot be made to stand in the dock for the suicide of a lower rung official. “Doing so will cause a lot of harm to the administration of the department,” he said.
Mr. Lobo said that officials are bound to face pressure from politicians, who, in turn, face pressure from the people. “Officials face political pressure and we face people’s pressure,” he said.
Mr. Lobo said that the accusation by M.K. Ganapathy against the three cannot be taken as dying declaration. Nowhere in his interview to a private channel did Ganapathy voluntarily take the names of Mr. George and the three police officers. He took these names only after being prompted by the interviewer. He also did not say anything in the interview that he would end his life. “This statement before the television channel cannot be considered as dying declaration,” he said and added that Ganapathy’s statement was coloured as he was targeting the Congress government.
Mr. Lobo said that the Criminal Investigation Department was probing into the suicide and that would reveal the reasons that forced Ganapathy to end his life.
Earlier, in-charge president of Dakshina Kannada Pradesh Congress Committee Ibrahim Kodijal condemned the Bharatiya Janata Party for taking political mileage out of Ganapathy’s suicide. The BJP is using the police officer’s suicide to stall proceedings of the Legislature which is poised to pass some important Bills and legislation.
