AP IAS officers close ranks behind colleague
DH News Service Hyderabad:
The DGP is being blamed for the case against IAS officer. It is said that the
latter’s crusade had led to a case being filed against the former’s wife in
an adoption racket.
IAS officers of Andhra Pradesh have closed ranks behind their colleague and
fellow IAS officer, Shalini Mishra, who has been named in an FIR filed by the
Medak district police under the provisions of the SC, ST (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act.
The FIR was based on a complaint by a tribal youth who was an accused in the
infamous adoption trade in tribal baby girls in the State.
The tribal made the complaint with reference to an incident that took place four
years ago when Shalini Mishra was Director of Women and Child Welfare. She had
used all the clout of the official machinery to crack down upon adoption
agencies run by powerful people that were giving away Lambada baby girls into
adoption in foreign countries.
Mishra, who is now Special Commissioner of Housing Board, has petitioned the
State government seeking permission to approach the High court to defend
herself.
Officials in the General Administration Department have said that the permission
would come through and that orders would be issued shortly. The government would
bear the expenses of her defence, they pointed out. Women’s organisations and
NGOs that were at the forefront in exposing the adoption racket four years ago
have accused Director General of Police Swaranjit Sen of targeting Mishra
because one of the agencies that was closed down by her was headed by his wife,
Anita Sen. Anita Sen is also an accused in the case.
About 35 IAS officers have gone in a delegation to Chief Secretary Mohan Kanda
and in a memorandum they expressed their unhappiness over the “witchhunt”of
Mishra and her “victimisation” at the hands of police for discharging her
duties.
TDP demand
Meanwhile, the Opposition Telugu Desam Party has asked Chief Minister Y S
Rajasekhara Reddy to “dismiss” the DGP for being “vindictive” against
Mishra.
Referring to the “clash of interests” between IAS and IPS officers brought
about by the filing of the FIR against Mishra, the TDP warned that if the CM
does not get the case dropped it would result in the “collapse of
administration”.
The TDP has criticised the CM for treating the issue as a “minor one”.
Referring to the CM’s reaction that such disputes were bound to happen in a
state of eight crore population, a TDP spokesman pointed out that it is not
everyday that a state’s police chief “dares” to seek vendetta against an
IAS officer to “shield his wife”. The party demanded that Sen should be
removed from the post and order a judicial enquiry into the entire issue.
[Deccan Herald, Saturday, April 23, 2005]