Review petition may not help: Prashant Bhushan

Thiruvananthapuram: Noted Supreme Court lawyer and Swaraj Abhiyan leader  Prashant Bhushan has said that the state government was unlikely to get any relief even if it were to file a review petition against the apex verdict in T P Senkumar case. The state government had no other option but to reinstate Senkumar as state police chief Bhushan said to a question on the possibility of the police officer being given some other posting. “There is no ambiguity in the verdict. It clearly says that Senkumar has to be reinstated as state police chief,” he added.

Bhushan said the verdict was a strong warning to the political leadership and governments against using police as an instrument. “It is a significant signal to the governments that violation of apex court judgments and arbitrary actions would not be tolerated,” he said. He said such violations were now rampant in the country with political leadership removing police officers at their whims and fancies.

The latest case was that of Uttar Pradesh State Police Chief Javeed Ahmed who was shunted out by the Yogi Adityanath government though his tenure was up to January next. Bhushan said police department should be insulated from political interference and allowed to function independently. Police Reforms Commissions and various directives from SC in the past, had also emphasised on this aspect. However, many of the state governments are not fully complying with the directives, guidelines of Supreme Court and recommendations of police commissions.