Kejriwal fumes after meet with Bassi turns frosty

TNN

New Delhi, 21 Jul 2015: Delhi Police commissioner B S Bassi covered the short distance to the Delhi secretariat from the police headquarters for a meeting with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday afternoon. There was, however, no meeting ground. Summoned by the CM primarily to discuss the Anand Parbat case, in which a 19-year-old girl was publicly stabbed to death, the police commissioner conceded nothing and, in fact, rejected a demand by Kejriwal to share information on postings. He also turned down a demand to share footage from CCTVs to be installed by the state government in police stations. 

 

The government minced no words on letting it be known that the one-and-a-half-hour meeting had yielded nothing. State home minister Satyendar Jain told reporters that Bassi had refused to reply to many questions from the CM and that he was taking the Anand Parbat murder "lightly". He said Bassi’s stand was objectionable. 

 

Bassi was diplomatic in public, but sources close to him said he was firm. "I told the CM that Delhiites have lots of expectations from AAP...," he told reporters. And in what can only be described as an attempt to dare the state government, he said he had offered the CM a list of 500 victims like the Anand Parbat girl and asked him to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to all of them as in the case of the girl. Kejriwal refused to take the list. He, according to Jain, asked Bassi to "take the list to his boss, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Bassi replied the PM was too pre-occupied with other work." 

 

"I gave him the details of how cases are registered," Bassi told reporters. "We asked for his tips on policing and betterment of force. The talks were in a cordial environment." Turning to the CM’s "thulla" remark, Bassi said the issue was discussed. "The police force should not to be affected by such remarks." 

 

Jain accused Delhi Police of politicising the probe into the girl’s murder. Bassi, however, claimed "we take every incident as a challenge...Strenuous efforts were made to arrest the suspects...If there are certain expectations which are beyond the law, they can’t be fulfilled." He was referring to the demand to arrest the suspect’s mother. He said: "We owe our duty to the rule of law. It’ll be unfortunate if police succumbs to public pressure". 

 

Kejriwal also asked Bassi to provide details about crimes against women. "We asked Bassi to give us details on the number of FIRs registered on the basis of complaints by women and FIRs not registered by police," Jain told reporters. 

 

The CM also asked Bassi for names of inspectors who were being repeatedly made heads of police stations and the ones who were ignored. Jain said Bassi refused to share this information. 

 

"As a professional policeman, I can say that the force is independent and it’s not under fear," said Bassi. "I told the CM that Delhiites have lot of expectations from AAP. I told him that the prime minister or home minister don’t have any local vested interest. I told the CM that no one told me to arrest Tomar. Delhi is lucky that it has an independent police force." 

 

Earlier during the day, Bassi had met the LG. Speaking to reporters soon after that, he had said that whether the police should be under the Centre or the state government was a "political issue". He added: "My personal opinion is that the Delhi Police system is an excellent system." 

 

He had denied that Kejriwal was putting any pressure on Delhi Police, saying: "He has his own ideas and he is concerned with issues of Delhi. Anyone who is concerned with such issues will have his judgement impacted by local issues. It’s natural."