On the night of December 31, 2006, a platoon of Armymen in uniform had vandalised the Park Street police station after a major and a captain were arrested for teasing some women at a hotel in the area.
The then commissioner of Kolkata police, Prasun Mukherjee, had promised justice. However, when The Indian Express asked Police Commissioner Goutam Mohan Chakraborty about the incident, he said, “A police investigation is still on. Meanwhile, the Army has court martialled the concerned officers.”
Army group captain R K Das said that after a departmental inquiry, a report has been handed over to the court. He, however, said that nobody has been court martialled so far, as the court was yet to give its verdict. “It is sub-judice so I cannot comment on it,” he said.
Eleven policemen were injured, one seriously, in that incident. All the officers, including Major C B Singh and Captain Mahesh of the Madras regiment, were initially arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by one of the women.
Following the arrests, jawans had driven in three trucks to the police station where the arrested officers had been taken to and beat up the policemen on duty, snapping telephone lines, breaking furniture and damaging files before forcibly freeing their officers from custody after brandishing firearms.
“The incident is still fresh in our minds. Our superiors had then assured us that justice would be served and the culprits would be arrested. But nothing has happened so far. Those officers are still working in their respective posts as if nothing happened,” said an officer of the Park Street police station on condition of anonymity.
He added: “This time, our seniors decided not to go in for a confrontation with Army officers and immediately after arresting officers who manhandled our men, our superiors handed them over to the Army.”