Former Delhi Police Commissioner, Amulya Patnaik finally retired from the service after completing one month's extension he received at the backdrop of Delhi assembly election. The 1985-AGMUT cadre IPS officer served as the Commissioner of Delhi Police for three years. There was always a sense of uneasiness during his entire tenure as CP, Delhi police. Going against norms he was made the CP in 2017 where he superseded two top officers — Dharmendra Kumar and Deepak Mishra, both one batch senior to Patnaik. Remember General Bipin Rawat also superseded two of his seniors to become the Chief of Army staff in 2016.
As per the arguments given by many in bureaucracy Patnaik was appointed the Delhi police CP due to his strong "Odia connect" in the Prime Minister's office. Others believed the government appointed him as CP due to the number of years he had in service.
Became first Commissioner of Police who faced irk from his own forces
His tenures before becoming Commissioner of Delhi Police has been fairly quiet. He was respected for his "honesty" and "sense of judgment". But the series of events that occurred towards the end of his tenure proved his spinelessness, failing to protect even his own forces and the people of Delhi. The officials of the Delhi police were assaulted in Tis Hazari and Saket court by the lawyers.
In fact, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), North District, Monika Bhardwaj, was assaulted by a frenzied mob of lawyers and when she complained she was reportedly told to keep shut by her senior male officer. Shockingly, two of its officers were suspended from the duty. Much to the embarrassment of Patnaik, the Delhi police protested in large numbers in front of its own HQ.
Jamia, JNU, Jama Masjid and now North East Delhi
After the Modi government passed the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill in 2019, the country witnessed large scale protests. Delhi police first used brutal force against the peaceful students in Delhi's Jamia Milia Islamia. The officers beat up students, damaged university property, and broke CCTV and almost ransacked almost the entire Jamia campus.
In fact, the students were chased all the way to Girls hostel and central library. After a few days, police again unleashed the state-sponsored violence on protestors at the Jama Masjid area of old Delhi. Kids as young as nine years old were picked up and were beaten in an inhuman manner and were detained for hours with any medical and legal help.
Further, groups of masked goons entered the JNU campus and wreaked havoc inside the campus beating students as well as professors. The goons left right in front of Delhi police, perhaps some of the students accused that goons were actually escorted by police personnel.
But the worst was about to come. The day US President Donald Trump arrived in Delhi, the demonstrations against CAA increased in the already tensed Delhi North East Districts. Fueled by hate speech and slogans made by BJP leaders including Parvesh Verma, Anurag Thakur, and Kapil Mishra, the Hindutva crowd went on a rampage. The immediate call to forcefully vacate the area by Kapil Mishra, standing next to DCP of North East Delhi district, Ved Prakash Surya was responded with the bloodthirsty mob.
What followed is worst the national capital has seen since the 1984 Sikh riots. There were more than 3000 distress calls but police failed to take a single action. Mostly, police personnel stood like a mute spectator and in other places, it supported the Hindutva mobs who burned the houses, religious places of Muslims, looted and killed people at will. Clearly, Amulya Patnaik became the cop who failed his own forces and his own people under huge political pressure from the Modi-shah government.
