Two events concerning the police, one unusual and the other on expected lines, have marked Gujarat’s news calendar in recent days.

The unusual event is the emptying of wells in Ode village to look for evidence six years after a 2002 riot case. Twenty-seven people were burnt to death in Ode village in Central Gujarat and for over a week now, a Special Investigation Team has been draining out water from wells to hunt for the remains of those killed.

The expected event of the week is the reshuffle of IPS officials—the first-ever after the assembly elections of 2007. Officers shunted out by the Election Commission before the 2007 polls have now been rehabilitated.

Bureaucratic reshuffling usually suits political expediency so the IAS-IPS reshuffle does not come as a surprise. While the IAS top brass was reshuffled in April, the IPS reshuffle was done on Wednesday.

In the run-up to the elections, the Election Commission had found some IPS officers incapable of carrying out impartial work. Instead of simply transferring them, the Commission forbade them for holding any position. But now, all these officers have been rewarded with plum postings.

And then, Satish Sharma, the IPS officer who is said to have done some exemplary work during the 2002 riots, has now been appointed the principal of the Police Training School in Vadodara—considered a low profile post.

In November 2007, the Election Commission had to summon the chief secretary as the state government had delayed Sharma’s appointment during the poll preparation exercise. It was only after the EC summons that Sharma was appointed in place of an officer who is known to be close to Home Minister Amit Shah.

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