Medal to tainted cop : AMSU stands ground, says it has info
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 19 2020: Standing their ground and reiterating its claim that they have 'reliable information' about some cops, who have been awarded the Chief Minister's Medals having "past criminal antecedents", the All Manipur Students' Union has appealed the Governor to immediately constitute a high level independent inquiry committee headed by a person no less than a retired Judge of the High Court to look into the matters related to the selection processes of the awards.

"...we have reliable information about some of the awardees being tinted with past criminal antecedents.

But at this juncture AMSU would refrain from disclosing the same in public.

However, AMSU will be happy to submit this information and cooperate with the high level inquiry committee as and when it is duly constituted," said the student body in a statement today.

Responding to the clarification issued by the Police Department yesterday, AMSU said "The question of EEVFAM v/s UoI (Union of India) being subjudice is totally irrelevant in this context, as the issue raised is about ensuring accountability of the selection process and to disclose the dossier/citation in the public domain, so that public can also appreciate their heroic activities" .

It may be noted following the withdrawal of the Chief Minister's Police Medal for Gallantry from a cop identified as B Debson, accused of trafficking drugs in 2013, AMSU had yesterday claimed that it has "reliable reports" of involvement of some other cops in the award list in drug related cases.

Further terming the response of the Police Department on its demand for investigation into Additional DG Arvind Kumar's case of allegedly shooting himself as "unfortunate and irresponsible", AMSU claimed that the intent of the representation submitted to the Governor is very clear and is asking "if the senior officer (Arvind Kumar) who chaired the committee (to select the awardees) is a victim of the system or not" .

The Additional DG's case needs to be thoroughly investigated to find if there is any connection between the "doubtful process" in question with the drastic action of the senior officer, AMSU reiterated.

It also urged the Police Department to submit their information through proper channel if any to the Governor in connection with the contents of the representation it submitted.

Meanwhile Secretary to the Chief Minister N Geoffrey in a statement yesterday said the "considering the incident in its totality, there is a need to put in place, a foolproof system of antecedents and character verification, vigilance clearance for police personnel proposed for consideration of the awards and clear deadlines for processing the same, amongst others," it added.

The Home Department should further draw up detailed procedures for the conferment of the Chief Minister's Police Medal for Gallantry and Chief Minister's Police Medal for Outstanding Devotion to Duty so that such incidents do not recur in future, the statement said.

It further mentioned that the inquiry committee investigating the case should submit its report within a period of 10 days.

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