‘After Bhagalpur riots I went to a house and saw a half burnt plastic toy; I cried…it shaped my character’: M V Rao

Q: Did your last tweet thank the people who ‘dumped poison’ on you? Who are the people you are talking about?

The people I refer to are very aware of this. They fully understand what I mean and what the consequences are.

Q: But what content do you mean when you use the word ‘poison’?

Since the pandemic, there has been a very concerted effort to create sectarian conflicts everywhere through highly toxic propaganda, which we, as police officers responsible for maintaining law and order, had to effectively counter in order for harmony to be maintained in the society. When you’re head of the state police, certain steps are taken to contain these rabid communal elements and we take to social media to counter it. A section of the media, for the reasons they know best, already had a narrative and it was proposed to target the officials, since we were visible and proactive, and there was a lot of animosity, weaving false narratives.

Q: What are the steps you have taken since taking over as Jharkhand Police Chief?

We took social media in a big way and I told my officers that the only way to survive is to work to the bone. We made a lot of improvements in our state: organizations like PLFI were almost put down, TPC, which used to extort a lot of money from coal mining areas, fell heavily, Maoists are on the run and all those mafia elements they used to run extortion. The noise from the jail through cell phones has been put under surveillance and not a single call has been made since the last month. We have done many things against narcotics, cybercrimes, illegal arms trafficking, among others. In our investigation process, we also saw in parallel whether that particular crime would have been prevented with the proactive approach of the police or whether the crime occurred due to certain lapses by the police. In this process, a lot of awareness emerged among the police. There have been many improvements. Now all that is required of any woman is to send a message to a particular number (in case a problem arises) and a policewoman will touch it. We also instill a culture of mass contact with people to overcome the toxic environment.

Q: In these polarized times where we see many sectarian divisions between societies with different political masters at stake, what is the job of the police?

I think there is a difficulty and we have to incorporate political leadership. We must also make the political executive understand that development activity is worthless in a volatile environment. Anyone who plans development without stabilizing society from the perspective of law and order is heading in the wrong direction.

Q: But how do the police isolate themselves with a lot of hatred?

We have to find a way and succeed. We did it up to a point. Many people (who spread hate) also realized that this was not the right thing to do. Hatred can never be fought with hatred and leads to bloodshed. Someone has to bring sanity and a voice of sanity must be heard in these volatile times. This country needs people with a lot of courage to tell the truth and make sense of an otherwise environment, if necessary.

Q: Do you regret it so far?

I don’t regret as such, but sometimes I feel: didn’t I waste my life spending my peak days dealing with the dark side of humanity where there is so much pain? The senses are numb to such an extent, because I hardly remember a day when I happily enjoyed myself. If a crime takes place somewhere, the family of the victims will be affected, but as DGP I am beaten every day wherever a crime is committed in the state. Crime is the result of very serious aberrations of human nature and society in general must find ways and means to deal with these things. But I also felt something peculiar: I felt that people feel that it is the job of the police to take care of them, that it is a very unequal view of the legal system and society. If a minor commits a crime, are not the parents, the community as a whole responsible? I have resisted for a long time, but I have had the courage to tell people that the police alone cannot prevent certain crimes. But some people understand this as my arrogance.

Q: Is that why you are applying for the Voluntary Retirement Service?

I would waste my time collecting wages and I want to make better use of it. I want to have a fruitful time and will probably use it for agriculture, which my ancestors did. There also comes a time when you start to get irritated easily or feel sad too often. Now is the time to change careers or take a break. Because that erodes your positive senses. The more loving you are, the more you will suffer.

Q. You handled the Bhagalpur riots, Sitamarhi and the Mandal riots, among others. Can you count some cases?

I have handled my three decades of service in extremely stressful situations, whether it be in Bhagalpur, Sitamarhi riots or handling the Mandal upheavals and fighting kidnapper gangs in Betiah and anarchy in Buxar … or handling LWE, or handling cases high profile while at ACB. It has been satisfactory.

More than 16,00 people died and many houses were burned in Bhagalpur. If you look back, some cases leave an imprint and Bhagalpur is one of them. After the Bhagalpur riots, I went to a house and saw a half-burned plastic toy. I cried (collapses). It could have been my son. What little hands they would have felt … This shaped my character and I made up my mind to stand up for what was right and, if necessary, use brute force to bring meaning to people. In another case, I persecuted a minister during the term of Lalu Prasad. In those days many kidnappings used to happen and nine people were kidnapped in our area. We were following some people into the forest when we had an encounter and we rescued seven of them and two kidnappers were shot. The next day I heard that a police station was surrounded by a mob in support of the kidnappers led by that minister who also threatened me. He was so furious that I chased him for a long time, but he ran away.

Q: So Lalu Prasad didn’t create any obstacles?

I need to give credit to what is due. I had arrested a sitting deputy from Bhagalpur who belonged to the ruling party when Lalu Prasad called me and said if there was enough evidence. I said affirmatively. He said ‘thik hai’. When Prasad was the CM, there was not a single instance where he asked me to do something wrong. Even the minister whom I persecuted was eliminated.

Q: A prominent politician made fun of your departure and said that he has been filing false cases against him and his family and that he should be thinking of his family?

May that politician remember me as a DGP with an iron fist. I don’t want to comment on anything else.