By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: The Rashtriya Secular Manch (RSM) is organizing a lecture on “Gujarat pogrom – Lessons for Police, Administration & Politicians” to be delivered by R. B. Sreekumar, the former Gujarat State Additional Director-General of Police, on February 27 in Mohaniya hall of the Gandhi Bhavan campus here at 6 p.m.
The RSM as in the previous years is organizing this lecture on the 12th anniversary of the Gujarat pogrom, which is said to be the worst communal riot in India after Independence.
It may be mentioned here that Sreekumar is an upright retired brave police officer who is famous for his honesty and principles. He is better known for the allegations he made against the Government of Gujarat and its Chief Minister Narendra Modi, whom he claimed prevented the police from carrying out their duties during 2002 Gujarat violence. He was awarded the Medal for Meritorious Service in 1990 and a Medal for Distinguished Service in 1998 by the Government of India.
Sreekumar became famous since 2002 for deposition of extensive evidence to judicial bodies, uncovering the diabolic role of communal forces in Gujarat, actively aided by the Gujarat State Government headed by Narendra Modi, in anti minority genocide. (He submitted nine (9) Affidavits to judicial/investigating bodies – 663 pages). His evidence formed the substantial component of litigations by riot victims. His truthful reports resulted in the postponement of Gujarat Assembly elections in August 2002 by the Central Election Commission. The communal flavour of a speech by the CM Modi in Sept 2002 was reported by him to the authorities. The Modi Government denied him promotion to the rank of Director General of Police in February 2005, charge sheeted him on false grounds, for dismissing him from service and denied him pension benefits for 2 years.
However, Sreekumar could secure justice from the Gujarat High Court which ordered his promotion with retrospective effect. His charge-sheet was also declared illegal by the Central Administrative Tribunal, (CAT), Ahmedabad. He retired from service on 28 February 2007.
At present he is engaged in assisting the riot affected persons and NGOs in getting proper justice delivered to riot victims. His efforts to marshal evidence against planners and perpetrators of 2002 anti-minority carnage through the witnesses has so far resulted in conviction of 116 rioters with life imprisonment. This is an unprecedented achievement in the history of anti-minority criminal cases since 1947.
It may be recalled here that a 1971 batch IPS officer, Sreekumar joined Gujarat police forces in 1972 and continued till his retirement in 2007 as additional director general of Police. He is the grandson of famous Indian revolutionary freedom fighter, nationalist, journalist and writer Balaramapuram G. Raman Pillai who fought against the British for independence and started a newspaper called Navashakti. He was Additional DGP of Gujarat during Godra incident and was Intelligence DGP during Gujarat communal violence 2002.