Manipur cop returns gallantry award, asks CM to give it to someone ‘more deserving and loyal’
This report was first published in theprint.in and has been posted here without any alterations or editing. To read the original report, CLICK HERE
Guwahati: Thonaujam Brinda, a decorated Manipur police officer who was awarded the Chief Minister’s Police Medal for Gallantry in 2018 for her contribution in curbing smuggling activities in the state, returned her medal Friday. The recognition was part of the chief minister’s ‘War against Drugs’ initiative.
Brinda’s decision comes a day after the Special Court (ND & PS) Manipur acquitted Lhukosei Zou, a former chairman of the Autonomous District Council (ADC), Chandel and six others in the 2018 drug haul case.
Brinda, an assistant superintendent of police, was instrumental in Zou’s arrest in a major operation launched by Manipur Police in 2018. She was also awarded the Chief Minister’s Commendation Certificate in 2019.
Speaking to ThePrint after the court verdict Thursday, Brinda said, “My charges against the system are hence proved.”
She had made news earlier this year for her allegations against the Chief Minister, of directly, and through his senior officials, “piling pressure” on her to release Zou.
In a letter addressed to Chief Minister N. Biren Singh Friday, Brinda wrote: “I feel morally inclined that I have not conducted my duty as ‘per the wishes’ of the Criminal Justice Delivery System of the land. Hence, for the reason cited above, I do not consider myself deserving of the honour bestowed upon me by your good self. I, therefore, return the same to the State Home Department so that it may be given to a more deserving and loyal police officer.”
‘War on Drugs is only an eyewash’
A 2012 Manipur Police Service officer, Brinda is facing contempt proceedings (suo moto) by the Manipur High Court for her “derogatory, defamatory and contemptuous” remarks on Facebook, allegedly undermining and criticising the judiciary after Zou was granted interim bail on 21 May.
In an affidavit filed on 13 July, in response to the contempt charges filed against her, Brinda had referred to the judge as “biased, incompetent, and lacking in integrity while dealing with the bail matter”.
She had also mentioned: “The menace of drugs is never taken seriously by the present system. The ‘War on Drugs’ is only an eyewash coined by the present system to gain political mileage.”
Earlier this year, Brinda was also detained by police along with two others for allegedly defying Covid-19 lockdown restrictions in Imphal.
In July, Brinda had said that her house was surrounded by armed police personnel and officials in civilian clothes in the name of providing security to her 76-year-old father-in-law, Rajkumar Meghan, who was the chairman of the Manipur-based insurgent group United National Liberation Front. Meghen had returned to Manipur after 44 years in November last year, after being released from the Guwahati Central Jail.
Brinda Friday confirmed to ThePrint that her house was still surrounded by security forces.
Courtesy: theprint.in
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Send CBI, ED to probe Adani, Ambani: Rahul Gandhi's retort to Modi's 'tempo loads of money' jibe
New Delhi, May 8: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold a probe by the CBI or ED into whether businessmen Adani and Ambani sent his party "money in a tempo".
Rahul Gandhi's retort to PM Modi came after the latter attacked him at an election rally saying why he has "stopped" naming Adani and Ambani in his attacks and whether he has received money from them in return.
Taking a swipe at the Prime Minister, Gandhi in a video message asked whether Modi was speaking from his "personal experience" about money being sent by businessmen.
"The money that PM Modi has given to the two businessmen, the Congress party will give the same amount of money to the people of India through the various schemes that the party has promised," Gandhi said.
"The country knows who is the driver and helper of the BJP's tempo of corruption," he said in a post in Hindi on X.
"Modi ji, are you a little scared? Normally you talk about Adani and Ambani in closed doors, but for the first time you have talked about Adani and Ambani in public," Gandhi said in the video message.
"You also know that they give money in a tempo. Is it your personal experience?" Gandhi said.
"Do one thing - send the CBI, ED to them and carry out a thorough investigation and don't be scared," he said.
Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday accused the Congress of having a "deal" with "Ambani and Adani", and asked if the party has received "tempo loads of black money" from the two businessmen for its leader Rahul Gandhi to stop "abusing" them.
"Since his Rafale issue got grounded, he started chanting about 'five industrialists'. Then he started saying Ambani-Adani. But ever since elections have been announced, these people (Congress) have stopped abusing Ambani-Adani.
"I want to ask from Telangana soil, let the Shehzada announce, how much has been lifted from Ambani-Adani. Has tempo loads of money reached the Congress? What deal has been arrived at that abusing Ambani-Adani has stopped overnight?" he said while addressing an election rally at Vemulawada in Telangana.
"Certainly something is fishy. For five years, (they) abused Adani-Ambani and it stopped overnight. It means you have received some tempo loads of 'chori ka maal' (loot)... Kaale dhan ki kitni boriya bharkar ke rupaye maare hai (how many sacks of black money you have taken). You have to answer the nation," the prime minister said.
The Congress has been accusing the prime minister of favouring the top five industrialists in the country, including Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani.
भाजपा के भ्रष्टाचार के टेम्पो का ‘ड्राइवर’ और ‘खलासी’ कौन है, देश जानता है। pic.twitter.com/62N5IkhHWk
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 8, 2024
