In what is being viewed as a direct fallout of the CBI questioning a top Intelligence Bureau official in connection with the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, the government is now contemplating providing legal immunity to the top brass of key intelligence agencies, particularly those dealing with anti-terror operations. This would be similar to the legal protection given to police officers in criminal cases where an accused arrested by them is acquitted by a court of law at a later stage.
Highly placed government sources said a system of checks and balances will be put in place where intelligence officials will not be “harassed” if the intelligence input generated by him goes wrong or is misused by another agency.
“Police officers are protected by law if an accused arrested by them is acquitted by a court of law. Even in sensitive cases of terror, if a person goes totally free, no action is taken against the investigating officials. So why should there be discrimination against intelligence officials,” a senior intelligence official remarked.
There was a huge row between the CBI and the IB after the former decided to question Rajender Kumar, who is virtually number three in the IB hierarchy, in connection with the Ishrat Jahan case.
The situation reached such a stage that the Union home secretary had to intervene by summoning Intelligence Bureau chief Asif Ibrahim and the director of CBI, Ranjit Sinha.