TDP politburo member, Varla Ramaiah, said on Tuesday that the ruling YSRCP is encouraging caste discrimination in the recruitment to various posts in the police department.

Ramaiah told media persons here that now those belonging to a particular section are getting plum posts while those police officers who are from the Schedule Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Backward Classes (BCs) and Minorities are being pushed to the loopline. This is the reason as to why the entire police department is functioning as a private army force to Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, he remarked.

Expressing concern that the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is no longer valid in the State, Ramaiah observed that the Jagan Penal Code (JPC) is in force now. “The Director General of Police (DGP) is always worried about safeguarding his own post,” the TDP politburo member remarked.

There is every possibility that the police wing, which is supposed to be the backbone of the State, will soon disappear into oblivion, Ramaiah felt and expressed concern that the whole system got totally unnerved. The lower rung officers are not taking seriously their seniors like Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIGs) or the Superintendents of Police (SPs), Ramaiah remarked.

Regretting that the situation has come to such a pass that the police officials are scared of rowdies, Ramaiah felt that since the baton went into the hands of the ruling party, criminals and accused are ruling the roost. Never in State history has the police department stooped so low, he regretted and pointed out the incident in which a rowdy-sheeter attacked a sub-inspector in Sullurpet police station and still there is no action against that rowdy-sheeter.

Asking whether the DGP can claim that his department is functioning as per the provisions of the laid down norms, Ramaiah demanded release of a white paper on the postings and priorities given to various officers in the police department.