After legal battle, Infant takes over as top cop

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Senior-most IPS officer of 1977 batch, Abdul Rehman Infant on Saturday took charge as the new (concurrent) Director General and Inspector General of Police.

He continues to hold the substantive charge of DGP-Home Guards, Fire & Emergency Services.
The government, on Saturday afternoon, issued a notification appointing Mr Infant as the concurrent head of police force and ousted the embattled DG&IGP Shankar Mahadeva Bidari after the High Court, on Friday, struck down his appointment.

Mr Bidari has been posted as DGP, State Police Housing Corporation, of which he was holding additional charge earlier.

Mr Infant, who originally hails from Paravur in Kollam district of Kerala, belongs to the Karnataka cadre.
He fought a relentless legal battle for the last four months against the appointment of Mr Bidari, who superceded him and succeeded former DG&IGP N. Achuta Rao on November 30 last year.

Mr Infant minced no words while stating that his appointment should have happened much earlier. “But, for some reason, it did not,” he said adding that his priority will be to “prevent and detect crime and instill a sense of discipline, which is very badly required in the police force.

“There are very good officers who should be encouraged, but there are also some black sheep. They should be curbed and checked,” said Mr Infant.

He added that he has a very short tenure of two months and to build a road map in such a brief span will be difficult.

“I will uphold the rule of law and encourage my colleagues to do so. If an officer is in doubt regarding implementation of law, he should introspect and look inwards for answers,” said the newly-appointed police chief.

Mr Infant has held important posts of ADGP (Law & Order), ADGP-Karnataka State Reserve Police and Home Secretary previously.

Bidari will take his case to SC

An emotionally distraught and visibly upset former DG&IGP Shankar Mahadeva Bidari said he should have got his case – challenging his appointment as police chief – transferred to another High Court “for justice”.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle minutes before handing over charge to his senior and incumbent DG&IGP A.R. Infant, Mr Bidari said he was “shocked” by the High Court judgment on Friday striking down his appointment.

“I should have taken a lawyer friend’s advice and got my case transferred to another High Court for justice. I was expecting a fair judgment. I have never been indicted by the National Human Rights Commission,” he said adding that the lawyers’ agitation also brought in pressure for his ouster.

Mr Bidari added that he will appeal against the High Court order in the Supreme Court.
“I am confident that I will come back,” he added.