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Mainstream, Vol XLIX, No 8, February 12, 2011

Perjury Simpliciter!

Saturday 19 February 2011, by D. Bandyopadhyay

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It was widely reported in the print media that G.D. Gautama, the Home Secretary of West Bengal, in his affidavit before the Hon’ble Calcutta High Court in the Netai killings affair, hesitantly admitted the existence of illegal armed intruders in that village while denying any knowledge of the existence of similar harmad camps elsewhere in the Jungle Mahal area. One cannot avoid applauding his gallantry in holding our national motto “Truth Shall Prevail” in utter disdain to proclaim his total loyalty to his roguish political masters. An affidavit before any judicial authority is a serious document. It cannot be treated lightly. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Law, an affidavit is a “sworn written statement of evidence used mainly to support certain applications and, in some circumstances, as evidence in court proceedings. The person who makes the affidavit must swear or affirm that the contents are true before a person authorised to take oaths in respect of the particular kind of affidavit.” (p. 23) Thus the critical point in any affidavit is the truthfulness of the statement. Hence any attempt at suppressio very, suggestio falsi (suppressing truth and suggesting falsehood) in any affidavit vitiates its truthfulness.

For about a year now the print media in Kolkata had been consistently publishing news about the establishment of camps of illegally armed goons of the CPI-M in different parts of Jungle Mahal in their attempt to re-establish their hegemony in the area which they had lost in the wake of the popular upsurge against police atrocities under the leadership of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities. News-papers published maps showing the places where such harmad camps had been set up. Curiously, most of these armed CPI-M camps were put up adjacent to or very near the camps of the combined police force. From a casual look at these maps it was apparent that the harmad camps were situated near the police camps only to get the latter’s protection and support. Thus the officers and other ranks of these police camps were guilty of supporting such camps while their legal duty was to seize all illegal firearms and arrest all those who were in possession of such illegal weapons.

A deputation of the Citizens’ Forum Against Violence and Terror waited on the Governor of West Bengal at Raj Bhavan, Kolkata on September 2, 2010 when this author as the President of that organisation handed over a copy of that map to him as it had appeared in a vernacular daily. Thus the Home Department of West Bengal could not deny the knowledge of the existence of such camps. Yet the Home Secretary feigned ignorance in his affidavit. It was a clear travesty of truth.

ONE is not sure whether he (the Home Secretary of West Bengal) was aware of the gravity of the situation. By suppressing truth and suggesting falsehood he committed the offence of perjury. Perjury is defined as “the offence of giving false evidence or evidence that one does not believe to be true (even if it is in fact the truth)... Perjury is only committed, however, in judicial proceedings which include any proceeding before a court, a tribunal or someone with power to hear evidence on oath.” (Ibid., p. 403)

Giving false evidence is an offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Section 191 of the IPC states: “Whoever, being legally bound by an oath or by express provision of law to state the truth, or being bound by law to make a declaration upon any subject, makes a statement which is false and which he either knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true is said to give false evidence.” And this offence is punishable under Section 193 with imprisonment which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine.

Now so much for the State’s Home Secretary. But what about the Superintendent of Police, Deputy Inspector General of Police and Inspector General of Police in charge of the areas where not only had harmad camps been set up but the harmads allowed to continue and carry on their depredations on the local population for so long uninterrupted by the police? They are equally guilty of all the criminalities committed by the harmads. They are in fact violating the Criminal Procedure Code, Indian Penal Code, Arms Act, Police Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act as amended uptodate. What the harmads are doing in the Jungle Mahal area and elsewhere in the State fall strictly under the definition of “terrorist act” as defined in the Amended Section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The harmads are, therefore, terrorist groups. Police officers who, instead of preventing such activities, are supporting them are themselves committing the crime of abetment to such unlawful activities. If these police officers under certain circumstances support, promote, aid and assist such terrorist activities, they would certainly do the same in some other circumstances. Abettors of unlawful activities can never be trusted in future as law enforcement agents. For establishment of the rule of law and good governance a large number of them have to be purged.

For such large scale operation the lengthy and time-consuming disciplinary procedures could be waived. Article 311 of the Constitution of India, which deals with “dismissal, removal or reduction in ranks of persons employed in civic capacities under the Union or a State”, provides for waiving of the normal disciplinary proceedings in proviso (2) (b) and (c). It states:

Provided further that this clause shall not apply

(b) .....where the authority empowered to dismiss or remove a person or to reduce in rank is satisfied that for some reason to be recorded by that authority in writing, it is not reasonably practicable to hold such inquiry,
or,

(c) where the President or the Governor, as the case may be, is satisfied that in the interest of the security of the State it is not expedient to hold such inquiry.

Thus such civil servants could be dismissed, removed or reduced in rank without any domestic inquiry. With a police force and a large section of the civil services deeply infected with utter partisanship, incompetence, disregard for law, inefficiency and corruption, draconian measures, as mandated by the Constitution, have to be applied. When gangrene sets in, amputation is the remedy. It is as much in public interest and for public good that government servants, who are partisan, inefficient, dishonest or corrupt or have become a security risk, should not continue in the service and that the protection accorded to them by the Acts and rules made under Article 309 and by Article 311 not be abused by them to the detriment of public interest and public good.

As a concerned senior citizen and a former member of the Indian Administrative Service, may I make a polite suggestion to the members of the All India Services employed in West Bengal and to the members of the civil and police services constituted by the State, to be fair and non-partisan during the remaining period of the present government? They should follow the law and strictly enforce it without fear or favour, malice or illwill. Good behaviour from now on till the State Assembly elections might provide a mitigating factor in regard to the quantum of punishment. Otherwise nemesis would overtake them all.

The author is a former Secretary of Revenue and Rural Development, Government of India. He served in West Bengal as the Commissioner of Land Reforms and was the architect of ‘Operation Barga’, the most important achievement of the Left Front Government in the State. He is currently the President of the Citizens’ Forum Against Violence and Terror in West Bengal.

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