IPS officer Basant Rath’s suspension will continue for another six months. Union home ministry has issued an order regarding this. Mr. Rath was first suspended in July 2020 allegedly for “repeated instances of gross misconduct and misbehaviour. He recently demanded to revoke his suspension and wrote to home secretary Ajay Bhalla calling the suspension order “unscrupulous” and “unethical exercise”. ”.
However, his appeal was denied. In the recent order, the home ministry said that the President, after considering the facts and circumstances of the case and the recommendations of the Central Review Committee, has come to the conclusion that Mr. Basant Kumar Rath shall continue to remain under suspension for a further period of 180 days till 27.01.2024.
Mr. Rath, who is an IPS officer of 2000 batch and AGMUT cadre, has had differences with Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbag Singh that had led him to file a police complaint against him in June 2020, expressing apprehensions for his “safety and reputation”.
He was shunted to the nondescript home guards and civil defence department from the traffic in November 2018 after a spat on Twitter with Junaid Mattu, who had just been elected Srinagar Mayor.
While with his unorthodox style of policing Mr. Rath has earned few admirers, at the same time, his style of working on the field in civilian clothes did not go well with his department and also his critics.
