IB Finds Jammu Officer's Articles 'Seditious', Seeks Disciplinary Action

Barely three weeks ago the District Magistrate of Bareilly Raghvender Vikram Singh was trolled and abused by the Sangh Parivar and later transferred by the BJP government in UP. His only flaw was that he commented on the Facebook about a strange trend, that according to him had started in his district -- 'of entering Muslim localities and raising anti-Pakistan slogans’. The DM was forced to withdraw his post under the BJP rule, though he stated that he stood by his statement.

In a similar case to ensure that the officers do not express their views, another IPS officer of the Jammu and Kashmir cadre was been targeted. This time it was not by the Sangh Parivar but by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) at the centre. The MHA has shot a letter to the Jammu and Kashmir government in reference to a discreet inquiry by the Intelligence Bureau (IB). The letter of the MHA seeks disciplinary action against Basant Rath.

The IB has termed Basant’s writings (12 in the Wire and two in the Indian Express in 2017) as seditious and that these can have serious consequences over the morale and discipline of the police and security forces in J&K. The MHA has stated that the officer had violated the All India service rules by going to the press and criticising the policies of the recent/previous governments. The J&K government, however, has promoted him and he is now posted as the IG traffic in Jammu.

Let us examine some of his articles which the IB found objectionable and which the MHA had used for accusing one of the most prudent and honest officers of the J&K cadre.

Basant has written a huge number of articles over the last few years. He had the audacity to write on the Valentine Day Vandals and sought for effective policing to check such vandalism. Another one was the need for police officers to have allegiance to the Constitution of India rather than to a temple.

But the articles that were chosen by the IB to indict him include: -

1. ‘It’s the politically connected Mafia, not the JNU students, we should question on Naxal violence’ - In this article, he raises the issue of illegal mining syndicates and the Maoists having a symbiotic relationship. He strongly exposes that relationship and according to him, both want the region to be isolated and the backwardness to continue in Chhattisgarh.

2. ‘In India the underworld, politician, police nexus is clearly visible’: This is not a hidden fact. The only fault happens to be that the criminality in the police system is exposed by a cop himself. Had this opinion being posted by a journalist probably (s)he would have been awarded.

3. ‘The Many criminal injustices of India’s police and investigating agencies’: In this scintillating article he asks the question as to why the investigators are hardly held accountable for their criminal misdeeds and continue with their criminality with no fear/shame of punitive justice.

There is nothing inflammatory or points against the ruling dispensation in these articles written by Basant. The charges of sedition i.e. conduct or writing against the nation-state, is thus utterly ridiculous. He has exposed the hollowness of the niceties existing in the system in which he also has become a participant. However, the IB thought otherwise and found the messages too incriminating and termed these as ‘seditious’.

According to Mohd Amin one of the prominent youth leaders of the Kashmir valley, Basant Rath is considered as an iconic figure where the people find trust in him and rely on him as a trustworthy shoulder in their problems. This is not an easy achievement by any police officer in the valley, but Rath enjoys this reputation for being prudent and honest. Far away from Delhi, in Jammu, where he is posted now, Basant has become a darling of the people of the city in managing traffic. It is believed that he operates from the streets and not from the office, which has brought him closer to the people. The IB and the MHA may miss this image of his dedicated duty to the state but the people realise his exceptional skills and commitment to his work.

The cases of officers being trolled is not a new phenomenon under the BJP rule. Apparently, this has become the general line where any voice of dissent of any individual or a collective must be negated. The ruling dispensation is converting the Indian Republic into a despotic state, where voices of dissent must be targeted, hounded or even killed. There is a team of professionals hired by the BJP to ensure that any voice of dissent even in the online sphere are abused and negated to the full. The BJP seems to be heading towards a totalitarian regime where democratic norms and processes become a hindrance. Gauri Lankesh was killed; several others are abused, targeted to fall in line with the ruling regime. But people still stand tall and are occupying spaces of dissent which is so essential for this democracy to strive.