A revealing account of the challenges, controversies and victories faced by one of India’s top police officers, as detailed in Prakash Singh's Unforgettable Chapters: Memoirs of a Top Cop, shedding light on the complex world of law enforcement in the country, says Kumar Chellappan
Jayaram Padikkal (1937-1997) was an IPS officer who served as the chief of Kerala Police during 1993 to 1994. He was the youngest DIG in the country as he excelled in investigation and intelligence gathering. Had it not been for a controversy associated with the custodial death of a young Maoist leader by name P Rajan of the Regional Engineering College (now NIT) at Kozhikode during the black days of the internal emergency, Padikkal would have retired as the top echelon of the Home Ministry either as the chief of IB or CBI.
It is strange that the entire media in Kerala went gaga when Padikkal was suspended from service following the Rajan case. Though he was reinstated in service following the Court acquitted him of all charges, the Kerala media never left him alone and went after his blood with their own findings which were far from reality. All columns, books and even films of those days portrayed him as a villain. Even today, young journalists who do not have any idea about the Rajan case, lambasts Padikkal. The truth is that there was a period in the history of Kerala Police when people, cutting across political lines, demanded that cases of murder, corruption and misuse of power should be investigated by Jayaram Padikkal! Newspapers and periodicals in the State stand proof of this demand.
What happened to Padikkal was his success in exposing the hypocrisy and double standard of the Communists. Interestingly it was during the tenure of EMS Namboodiripad as chief minister that a separate unit was set up in the State for tackling the Maoist menace. Padikkal was appointed as head of the special unit and he did not let his bosses down. The Maoists, they were known as Naxalites those days, ran for their lives and within a couple of years, Padikkal and his “boys” finished them off. But they struck back during the emergency days and murdered three cops including a deputy superintendent of police. Rajan was taken into custody for facilitating the escape of the Maoists who were the perpetrators of the heinous crime. While a lot of tears were shed for Rajan, the Kerala society ignored the sacrifice made by the cops and that was how Pdikkal became the “evil character”. Padikkal, the super cop of Kerala, breathed his last in 1997 and had a peaceful death.
Despite the persecution and attack by the media and intellectuals, Padikkal kept his cool. “I was not a public relations officer of the Kerala Police and my mission was to safeguard the Constitution of India,” he reportedly told a close associate when he was asked why he was indifferent to criticism by the media.
Memories about Jayaram Padikkal crept into the mind while going through “UNFORGETTABLE CHAPTERS”, Memoirs of a Top Cop by Prakash Singh, a former IPS officer who had served as police chief of Uttar Pradesh, assam, Punjab, Nagaland and as the director general of Border Security Force. Prakash Singh also fought for reforms in police, which if implemented would have elevated our cops to the best force in the world. But politicians do not want to liberate police from their shackles. The importance of our political leaders is known by the number of armed cops guarding them. A chief minister like Pinarayi Vijayan, whom the CPI(M) in Kerla portrays as the most popular politician in India, does not move out of his palatial house without a heavy posse of commandoes and a cavalcade of fifty SUVs and siren wielding ambulances.
Singh’s memoirs take the readers through a period in India filled with terrorism, political turmoil and insurgency. He has hands-on experience in tackling terrorism in States like Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Nagaland and the mafia raj of Uttar Pradesh. Singh has diagnosed the root cause of insurgency in North East India in an exemplary manner. No other political historians , security experts or observers have gone into the basics of these issues like Prakash Singh.
While serving as DGP in Uttar Pradesh, Singh had alerted his colleagues and subordinates about the danger posed by Mukhtar Ansari, the dreaded don of Uttar Pradesh. Ansari, nephew of a former vice-president of the country, was an accused in cases of murders, dacoity and rape. He was described as a shaheed by Asaduddin Owaisi much to the anguish of the law abiding citizens in India. Though Prakash Singh did not approve the Sangh Parivar demolishing the disputed structure at Ayodhya in 1992, this police officer makes it unambiguously clear that the Babri Mosque was nothing other than the temple where Lord Rama was born.
What makes this book a must read for all who are interested in knowing the political and social chaos is the kind of information provided by the author. He has shared with the readers the reasons for the fall in standards of policing in the country. Post-retirement, Singh drew the attention of the Supreme Court to factors like the executive misuse and abuse of the police in frequent postings and transfers, recruitment procedures vitiated by political recommendations, promotions getting influenced, tampering of investigations, and unlawful directions to the police as matters of concern.
Singh is no ordinary police officer and is proved by his admission that he regrets his failure in mastering Sanskrit and not learning martial arts. His third regret that he could not divide his life in the four ashrams prescribed by our ancestors is uncalled for. We need officers like Prakash Singh to share their experiences with the new generation cops. It will make major changes in the spirit and soul of young officers.
Prakash Singh had won a historical case against the Union of India when the Supreme Court ordered that IPS officers selected to head the police force should get a minimum two-year tenure as chief. Super cops like Padikkal and Prakash Singh belong to a different genre and they are the ones described by Chanakya as the real policemen.
