Kasauli shooting: Anger builds as police pass buck; activists ask Supreme Court to act against errant bureaucrats

Solan: A wave of anger has spread across Himachal Pradesh at the killing of an assistant town and country planning officer. The victim, Shailbala Sharma was shot dead on Tuesday by Vijay Singh, owner of Narayani Guest House during a demolition drive in Himachal Pradesh’s Kasauli. [caption id=“attachment_4455145” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of the Himachal Pradesh police. PTI[/caption] The anger is more pronounced because Shailbala was on deputation from the Baddi Brotiwala Nalagarh Development Authority (BBNDA). Shailbala, a hard-working officer, was new to the protocols that needed to be observed during a demolition process. Her son Piyush, a government medical officer working in Shimla district is aghast at the failure of the administrative machinery. Piyush said: “There has been a serious lapse in providing adequate protection to my mother. Why should the Supreme Court give such a ruling (to demolish illegal constructions) if the state cannot ensure the safety of officers executing their orders?” “My mother could have refused to be part of the demolition exercise. But she never shirked her responsibilities and believed in doing her job. She obviously did not realise she was up against a very powerful builder lobby who have close links with the administration. Surely, the government should have known this and provided her better protection. I’ve lost my mother. What greater loss can there be?” Piyush lamented. Shailbala’s brother Madan Kant, who is Mandi’s deputy superintendent of police, also believes there has been a security lapse. “We all know that builders operate as a mafia,” Kant said. “Singh should have been de-weaponised and there should have been much more surveillance by the administrative machinery before the demolition process started. Due precautions should have been observed”. Tracing the last few hours of Shailbala’s life, TD Sharma, a family friend who works with her husband VP Sharma at the Directorate of Mushroom Research in Solan, said she and her team reached the Narayani Guest House around 11.30 am on Tuesday. Sharma said, “According to details given to her family members, she was leading one of four teams and repeatedly told the owner of the guest house (Singh) and Ved Garg, the owner of the nearby Shivalik Hotel, she was only following court orders. The interaction between Singh and her continued for some time. She was accompanied by the Solan sub-divisional magistrate Ashutosh Garg and Town Planner Leela Sham.” “In this charged atmosphere, an emotional Singh even threatened to kill himself. The other hotelier Ved  also issued similar warnings”, Sharma added. A senior Shimla advocate, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said, “Ved and Singh should have been arrested for impeding the Supreme Court order. If the sub-divisional magistrate had ordered their arrests, this entire process would have taken place without a hitch. His failure, and the failure of the police to anticipate action was responsible for this tragedy”. Following a lunch break, Shailbalar returned to the Narayani Guest House. She wanted to convince Singh to reconcile himself to allow the top three floors — reportedly built without prior permission— demolished. He opened fire on her with a revolver he’d purchased in 2011. The key question: Why was Shailbala allowed to enter the guest house without an armed escort? Eyebrows are also being raised at the failure of the police’s Quick Reaction Team to act when Singh fired on both Shailbala and also on Gulab Singh, a PWD labourer brought in to assist in the demolition process. One theory doing the rounds: Shailbala entered the guest house to talk to Singh because she felt she could persuade him. After all, Singh was a government employee working with the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board for several years. A senior Shimla-based police official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “With tempers running high, we do not know whether Singh shot at the woman officer at his own behest or at the behest of a consortium of hoteliers. Demolition orders had been issued against 13 hotels that day. The fact that he fired three rounds from his revolver before fleeing the spot also points to police ineptitude. The police is now looking into all angles of this crime. The fact that Singh escaped so easily points to a security lapse”. The presence of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur in Baddi on the same day saw a large police contingent being diverted to tend to his security. Which is one reason why both Solan deputy commissioner Vinod Kumar and the Superintendent of Police P Mohit Chawla were not present at demolition site. Chawla admitted that the police were surprised at how quickly events unfolded. But he pushed back against accusations that the police failed to deploy adequate security measures during the demolition drive. Chawla offered a breakdown of the police operation: “We deployed four teams with 42 people. Twelve police personnel had been given riot control equipment. There were also armed station house officers on the spot”. Chawla further added, “Ved, the owner of the Shivalik Hotel, had been creating problems. Our focus was on ensuring that he cooled down. The sub-divisional magistrate reached the spot and had managed to pacify him”. Explaining the events that led up to Shailbala’s death, Chawla said, “After the lunch break, Shailbala entered the guest house without taking anyone with her. Her team leader, the naib tehsildar, should have been informed and gone inside with her. She went to the reception desk where Singh fired two bullets at her. The Kasauli station house officer, an ex-serviceman, rushed towards Singh. The hotelier aimed his gun at him and escaped into the nearby forest”. Thakur has directed that the demolition drive against unauthorised construction continue and ordered senior brass to deal sternly with violators. Singh’s mother Narayani Devi is in a state of shock. She insisted that government officials should have been more sympathetic towards their cause. She also said  when they were constructing the guest house, no officers came forward to inform them it was illegal. Himachal Pradesh has over 25,000 illegal structures, which indicates how building laws have been violated with impunity. Activists are asking the Supreme Court to take strong action against government officials who allowed these buildings to be constructed under their respective jurisdictions. They insist that only strong action against erring bureaucrats will put an end to illegal construction.