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Days after 20 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officers were transferred and a Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) rank officer was suspended, allegedly for voicing their opinion against the new Central Armed Police Force (General Administration) Act, 2026, retired CAPF officials demanded that the orders be revoked. The retired officials also claimed that they were being followed and that unidentified people were filming their homes.
They said that the serving officers were targeted as their families had participated in protests against the legislation, describing the action as an act of vendetta. Demanding that the suspension of CRPF DIG B.C. Patra was withdrawn; they said he was a decorated officer who had done nothing illegal or anti-national.
“The officers who were transferred were identified with the help of videos and photos taken on April 9 at Rajghat in Delhi, where the families of CAPF officers had assembled to protest against the CAPF Act... Subsequently, the husbands were targeted. It was their legal right to protest,” said H.R. Singh, president, Alliance of All Ex-Para-Military Forces Welfare Associations. A former Group A cadre officer of the CRPF, Mr. Singh retired as Additional Director-General (ADG).
The officers also demanded that the CAPF Act be withdrawn.
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“Few days ago, the CRPF promoted around 200 officers. The officers who joined as Assistant Commandants (AC) got their first promotion after 16 years. In the CAPFs, the promotions are vacancy-based. If the DIGs are not promoted to I-G’s rank in time, it has a trickle-down impact. The ACs will also not be promoted in time, so the Inspectors, Sub-Inspector, head constables and constables all will suffer. The CAPF Act reserves the top posts only for Indian Police Service [IPS] officers,” said Anand Nimbadia, who retired as an I-G from the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
The legislation was passed by Parliament on April 2 and came into effect on April 9.
On June 10, Mr. Patra, who was posted in Tripura, was intimated about a pending enquiry against him for allegedly disseminating “audio/video messages and poster/banner for changing of the Government established by law across social media”.
The letter said that an I-G-rank officer will probe his WhatsApp account and other encrypted platforms he was active on to ascertain if there was dissemination of “politically provocative” messages against the Government. On June 17, the officer was served a suspension order based on the pending enquiry.
The officer, it is learnt, has challenged the suspension on the grounds that there is no “disciplinary proceeding contemplated or pending” against him as required under the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965.
Ranbir Singh, general secretary of the association, said that their cars were being followed. “Unidentified people were seen filming my homes; our president got calls from international numbers. We are here to fight for the welfare of the jawans,” he said.
When contacted, CRPF Director-General G.P. Singh told The Hindu that transfers are routine processes based on administrative and operational requirements.
When asked about the suspension order of the CRPF officer, the D-G said, “All serving and uniformed officers of the CRPF are bound by rules and statutes and the oath taken. Any words, written or spoken, or action contravening the same would be dealt with appropriately in consonance with the law of the land.”
The Act states that in all the CAPFs, 50% of the total posts in the rank of Inspector-General, at least 67% of posts in the rank of Additional D-G and all posts in the ranks of Special D-G and D-G shall be filled by IPS officers on deputation. Until now, such postings were done based on executive orders. The 50% cap on DIG posts, to be filed by Group A CAPF officers, was also done away with, paving the way for a higher percentage of IPS deputation.
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