AR refutes version of lady IPS officer

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jan 21 : Terming the report of harassment of a lady IPS officer by an Assam Rifles jawan at Khudengthabi checkpost on January 19 as uncorroborated and unsubstantiated, the PRO of Assam Rifles in a statement has said that the charges levelled are baseless, false, and fabricated.
Refuting the version of the lady IPS officer, Assam Rifles said that at around 2 pm, a white coloured Tata Sumo (registration number MN01G-6243) while returning from Moreh bypassed the designated scanning lane and also jumped the vehicle queue at PVCP Khugengthabi resulting in commotion and inconvenience to other passengers.
The vehicle was stopped by the AR troops and the passengers were asked for their identification which is the normal course of action at PVCP. On being enquired about the identity of the passengers and reasons for bypassing the scanning and jumping the queue, the lady along with the armed male escorts all in civil dress started arguing in an ignoble and indecorous language which is unbecoming of a uniformed personnel. This was possibly with an aim to avoid checking of the unidentified and suspicious stores loaded in the vehicle, said the statement.
Despite numerous requests from the troops of Assam Rifles, the lady refused to divulge her identity and rather began questioning the troops who were performing their mandated duty by asking "Don't you know me?".
At this moment, the lady sitting in co-driver seat started clicking photographs of PVCP which was objected by Rifleman PK Pandey.
However, she persisted and continued clicking which is against the laid down norms. The high headedness displayed by the lady officer at a sensitive post of PVCP is against the ethics of any uniformed soldier, charged the Assam Rifles.
It is highlighted that the lady police officer and her escort were moving in civil clothes with their personal weapons without any escort vehicle outside her area of jurisdiction.
A formal request to the lady officer by the Commandant, 12 Assam Rifles and Deputy Inspector General, Headquarters 26 Sector Assam Rifles to resolve the matter amicably was not responded affirmatively in return.
The security grid along NH -102 has been further strengthened due to the upcoming Republic Day with instructions to all checkposts along NH 102 to be on extra vigil and high alert, explained the statement. It is pertinent to mention that movement of such vehicles with occupants in civil dress with weapons in counter insurgency area and without prior intimation to other security agencies has serious operational ramifications, added Assam Rifles.
Asserting that Assam Rifles stands against such false allegations and use of such threatening and derogatory language, the statement said that on detailed investigation, it has come to notice that allegedly the lady IPS officer on official duty entered Myanmar illegally & bought suspicious and unidentified goods from across the border (Namphalong/ Tamu).
Can a Central Government servant on bonafide duty cross over to Myanmmar flouting all FMR rules and then covering her allegations on pretext of official duty needs further investigation, added the statement.
Video available at PVCP will be released to media at appropriate time. The incident happened in broad daylight (1400 hr) in front of multiple agencies. It is unimaginable that a jawan tried to molest, physically assault or beat an IPS officer.
In fact it was the other way round wherein she was shouting at a jawan who was on bonafide duty and her four escorts trying to force their way through by creating commotion and avoid scanning of the vehicle and admonishing an Assam Rifles personnel deployed on bonafide military duty at a bonafide designated check post. Being a lady she is trying to play the sympathy card and has also approached various agencies to highlight her case, charged Assam Rifles.
The PVCP at Khudhengthabi is the designated frisking and checking point just outside FMR on Moreh-Imphal axis. It has led to seizures of more than Rs 500 crore of contrabands since January 2019 alone in 125 separate incidents on this axis is a clear indication of importance of the PVCP at Khudengthabi.
The seizures during the year 2019 are more than the combined seizures of last 5 years on this axis by Assam Rifles personnel and especially by PVCP to safeguard the youth of Manipur from the menace of drug abuse.