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IPS officer Pankaj Choudhary, transferred by the Congress government recently, says both parties target him as he does not side with either of them.

New Delhi: A serving IPS officer in Rajasthan, Pankaj Choudhary, has accused both the BJP and Congress governments in the state of “harassing” him for performing his constitutional duties and not siding with either of them politically.

Choudhary, a 2009-batch IPS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, had recently been transferred as a commandant of the Police Training School in Jhalrapatan, Rajasthan — a position he believes is incommensurate to his experience and rank. He had been serving as the superintendent of police (SP) of the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) before this transfer.

“They are taking away my prime years, in which I can serve as an SP in challenging areas, by sending me to a training institute,” he told ThePrint.

“This is only because I don’t side with any party and just perform my constitutional duties as a police officer… Both the BJP and Congress only reward officers they see as party loyalists, and us neutral ones suffer.”

State DGP Kapil Garg, however, told ThePrint that Choudhary’s transfer was routine and the post that he has now been given had been updated to the SP-rank a few years ago. “He’s an SP, and the new post he’s been given is SP equivalent, so there is no such issue,” Garg said.

Asked to comment on Choudhary’s accusations against the government for penalising him for not toeing any party’s lines, Garg said, “Governments don’t work in this way… Transfers are done keeping in mind competence, experience, etc. As for his relationship with political parties, it’s not for me to comment on it.”

Ashish Gupta, secretary of the IPS Association in Delhi, said they have received no reference with regard to his case.

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A rocky career

Although Choudhary has decided to break his silence over his grievances — he has shot off letters to the DCP and chief secretary calling his transfer unfair and unacceptable — he is no stranger to controversy.

In 2013, when the Congress was in power, Choudhary was allegedly shunted out as the Jaisalmer SP for opening the criminal records of Gazi Fakir, the father of Congress leader Shaleh Mohammad, who was accused of running a cross-border smuggling racket and acting as an agent of Pakistan’s ISI, among other things.

At the time, a shutdown was observed in several parts of Jaisalmer in protest against his transfer, including by the BJP, which had accused the Congress government of victimising the officer.

A year later, however, he faced similar action after the BJP assumed power. In 2014, he was allegedly shunted out as SP from Bundi district by the BJP government after he arrested 11 activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal, who were accused of rioting in Nainwa.

He was also served a chargesheet by the Raje government for allegedly refusing to release the Right-wing activists despite pressure to do so.

“These people must have thought that because in Jaisalmer I opened Gazi Fakir’s criminal records, I must be a Hindutvawadi,” he said. “But when I acted against them, the BJP government got angry with me for arresting activists from the Hindu Right-wing groups instead of Muslims.

“If you act against a Muslim, the Congress government punishes you, if you act against a Hindu, the BJP government punishes you,” he said. “How is it possible for an officer to work as a Hindu or Muslim and not do his job?”

Another Rajasthan cadre IPS officer, who wished to remain anonymous, said Choudhary was “paying the price for being honest in a dishonest system”.

“Choudhary is known to be a dabang (fearless) officer… But as a result, he does not enjoy the backing of either the Congress or BJP,” the officer said.

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A political complication

Choudhary also feels that his transfer to Jhalrapatan will be seen as a political one as his wife, Mukul Choudhary, is officially with the Congress party in the state.

She even was in the running for a ticket from the Jhalrapatan constituency against former chief minister Vasundhara Raje but the party eventually fielded estranged BJP leader Manvendra Singh to take on Raje.

“In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, my posting in Jhalrapatan is bound to be seen as a political one,” Choudhary said. “Both the electorate of the constituency and the jawans in the institute will be suspicious about my posting.”

“This is nothing but a way to harass me,” he added.

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