Mallagi: Come to think of her post, she is an ordinary middle level Karnataka State Police Service officer. But Kudligi DySP Anupama Shenoy, who kept the media on tenterhooks for four days, surfaced at Kudligi early Thursday.
Ms Shenoy who got huge support in the social media and in Kudligi town where she worked, announced she would not withdraw her resignation. In her unblemished career, Ms Shenoy was literally stood for the poor, eliminating anti-social elements.
During a chat with Deccan Chronicle, she spoke her mind. She was soft but firm, and aggressive about her stand. Here are the excerpts of her interview
Are you going to Ballari today to meet your higher ups - SP and IGP at Ballari?
No. I am going back to my house.
Udupi?
No. Going to Bhatkal.
You came early morning, but you refused to meet your colleagues till afternoon. What were you doing inside your house?
I was busy packing my luggage.
Why did you resign?
I already told. It’s because of personal reasons.
What you have to say to the common people who are urging you to withdraw resignation?
I continue my fight as per law. In fact, I sought help from many to fight injustice. But, everyone is using my fight for the benefit of their own vested interests and I cannot bear it.
It is reported that Chief Minister has instructed to initiate disciplinary action against you.
I am not bothered. Disciplinary action, not only against me, how they immediately dismiss a police constable from the service, let the government also dismiss the higher officers in my department, who have done injustice to me.
What kind of legal fight you are thinking of?
Lawyers are there, judges are there. I still have faith on this.
So, you are moving to KAT (Karnataka Administrative Tribunal)?
Why should I go to KAT? I am committed to my resignation. I go (court of law) for other issues.
When you plan to release the CD ?
Why do you (media persons) ask the same question again and again. I will ‘put’ it when time comes.
So, you are only operating the Facebook account in your name and posting updates.
I told it already. I don’t have a Facebook account and I am not updating anything there. You go and interview the person who is posting updates.
Then, why cannot you complain to cyber police for hacking your FB account?
How many complaints I have to give? Do you still think that I get justice in my department?
So, you don’t have faith on getting justice in your department?
It’s not me. You have to see it.
Anupama Shenoy has disowned the Facebook account in her name, where many of the postings are said to be against state government and her higher-ups. She told reporters that she is not having any FB account.
However, a reliable source who met Anupama at her residence during her brief visit to Kudligi confirmed that it is her FB account and she was posting the updates. The Kudilgi DYSP reportedly told that she is using her FB to awaken common people to raise their voice against injustice meted out to honest people in the society.
“I wished my resignation to become a peoples movement against injustice and atrocities by powerful people, but here the real cause is being sidelined and everyone is using my resignation to benefit their own interests and no one is understanding my concerns,” Shenoy had reportedly posted.
Shenoy resigns, govt gives in
The resignation of deputy superintendent of police, Anupama Shenoy, was accepted by the state government on Thursday after she declined to give her decision to quit a second thought and returned to her home in Bhatkal.
The officer had quit on June 4 as she was miffed with leaders of the ruling Congress for backing an upper caste liquor merchant who commenced construction of a building though it would block access for Dalits to Ambedkar Bhavan in Kudligi town.
She spent about ten hours in her official quarters before heading for Bhatkal but refused to answer the door when her colleague and in-charge deputy superintendent S R Patil came to visit her evidently at the behest of the top brass of the police department. She also left without calling on either Superintendent of Police, R Chetan, or Inspector General of Police (IGP) Murugan at Ballari.
Anupama, however, stepped out to chat with representatives of several organizations who wanted her to resume office, but remained steadfast in her decision not to withdraw her resignation letter.
She was upset that though leaders like CM Siddaramaiah make tall claims about their commitment for the welfare of Dalits and those belonging to the backward classes, none spoke up for her when she tried to ensure access to Ambedkar Bhavan in Kudligi.
When asked why she came to Kudligi all the way from Bhatkal when she had made up her mind not to reconsider her decision to quit, she reportedly said “To pack my luggage.”
