‘I quit because I can’t fight the enemy within’

“You can fight the enemy who is outside (the system) but how can you fight enemies within ” This is what deputy superintendent of police, Kudligi sub-division of Ballari district, Anupama Shenoy had to say when she spoke to this newspaper about her shock resignation on June 4.

She said she had resigned after immense introspection and emotional trauma. “I resigned because I can’t fight with the enemy within. I will keep up my fight to deliver justice to the people, from the outside now. I will go back to teaching. I used to teach before I donned khaki,” Ms Shenoy said.

Recalling the chain of incidents last weekend, the officer alleged that despite her giving instructions to her subordinate officers to register an FIR against certain people who had taken the law in their hands, they didn’t follow them because of alleged caste reasons.

“I had instructed two of my subordinate officers to register an FIR against two people who had instigated a scuffle between the land owner, who is also a liquor tycoon in the area, and some dalit leaders who were protesting against the construction of a bar which would have blocked the entrance to the adjoining Ambedkar Bhavan in Yeshwant Nagar in my sub-division. I had directed the bar-owner to stop construction till we arrive at a mutually agreeable decision but they said that it was their property and went ahead with the construction. I had returned from Sandur on Friday after solving a civil land dispute there,” the police officer said.

“I discussed both the cases with my superintendent. He knew about the problem and after careful deliberation, I decided to book the accused under Section 107 and 151 of CrPC. Despite my orders, two of my subordinates didn’t act till late night because they are of the same caste as the accused,” she said.

“When I questioned them, they registered an FIR against three people, including a man from the Valmiki community who was not directly involved in the scuffle. Moreover, they also let the two accused out of the police station and got them back after I got angry with them,” charged the officer. The police officer added that she was very upset and late on Friday night she drafted her resignation letter.

“The next morning, when I went to office I saw people from the owners’ side protesting against my action and were demanding justice. I flashed my resignation letter at them and asked them if this would satisfy them. I later handed my resignation to my officer and asked him to forward it to the SP,” said Ms Shenoy.