Prasun Mukherjee
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Prasun Mukherjee | |
|---|---|
| 33rd Police Commissioner of Kolkata | |
| In office 30 November 2004 – 17 October 2007 | |
| Preceded by | S. K. Chakroborty |
| Succeeded by | Goutam Mohan Chakraborty |
| 15th President of the Cricket Association of Bengal | |
| In office September 27, 2006 – 29 July 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Jagmohan Dalmiya |
| Succeeded by | Jagmohan Dalmiya |
Prasun Mukherjee (born 1950) the former Commissioner of Police in the city of Kolkata (Kolkata Police), West Bengal, India and a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. In 2006 he was elected President of the Cricket Association of Bengal[1] but lost the next election and was replaced by Jagmohan Dalmiya in 2008.
Born in 1950, he earned a degree in mathematics from Patna University and qualified for the Civil Services and was allotted the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1973, with West Bengal Cadre. During his career so far in the IPS, he has held the following posts:
- As Supernumerary ASP while under field training in Jalpaigiri
- ASP & Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Arambagh
- Additional Superintendent of Police (Addl SP), Birbhum
- Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Detective Department (II), Calcutta Police
- DCP, 1st Battalion, Calcutta Armed Police
- DCP, North Division, Calcutta Police
- SP, Howrah
- Special Superintendent (SS) of Police, Criminal Investigative Department (C.I.D.), West Bengal
- DCP, Detective Department (I), Calcutta Police
- Deputy Inspector General (D.I.G.), C.I.D.( Operations), West Bengal
- D.I.G., C.I.D., West Bengal
- D.I.G.( Headquarters), West Bengal
- Inspector-General of Police (Law & Order), West Bengal
- IGP, South Bengal Zone, Kolkata
- IGP, Enforcement Branch, West Bengal
- Additional Commissioner of Police, Kolkata Police
- Additional Director General & IG of Police, Railways, West Bengal
- Police Commissioner of Kolkata
- Additional Director General & IG of Police (Telecom), West Bengal
- Director General, Bureau of Police Research & Development, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India
He took over as the Commissioner of Police on 30 November 2004, and on 17 October 2007, was transferred as Additional Director General of Police, Telecom, West Bengal. Previously, he has also held the post of the 'Secretary of the IPS Officers' Association of West Bengal for eight years in two stints.
The Rizwanur Rahman Case
His name hit the headlines while he attempted to endorse the reason for the mysterious death of Rizwanur Rahman, a graphic design instructor at a multimedia teaching private institute. Rahman was allegedly harassed by the top Kolkata Police officials just before his death on 21 September 2007. Mukherjee certified his death as "definitely a suicide or an accident", even before a post-mortem examination report was available.[2] Rahman was a 30-year-old Muslim male from a lower-middle-class background, who married a 23-year-old wealthy Hindu woman under provisions of the Special Marriage Act, 1955; the civil law applicable for registered marriage of persons from two different communities. The woman's father, who was previously under scrutiny for illegal cricket betting, reportedly sought help from Mukherjee through Snehashish Ganguly, elder brother of Sourav Ganguly, a renowned cricketer in his own right. Snehashish is one of the Directors of the firm owned by the woman's family. It is said the request was for getting his daughter back under the custody of father although she was of appropriate age to marry as an adult and legally allowed to live with her husband. The interference between the two consenting adults took place from 31 August till the death of Rahman on 21 September 2007. On 8 September, Rahman was physically separated from his wife with pressure from top police officials. After a fortnight of the separation, while Rahman filed a case with an NGO, and was planning to move to court, his severed body was found next to the railway tracks.[3][4]
Mukherjee attended a press conference on 23 September to endorse the supposed duty of police officials to interfere in people's personal matters.[5] He remarked that "police can interfere in cases where a marriage has taken place between families who are poles apart in social standing". He claimed to have done such things in the past, and said he would do so in the future too. He also asked the press, "who else will do it? The Public Works Department?"[6][7]
He walked out of the said conference when asked whether he is aware of several laws regarding freedom of adult couples and protection of inter-religious marriages. Later, some police officials confessed that during the harassment, they were aware that Rahman was innocent of any crime, but were just carrying out orders from "the top".[8]
The case generated huge media outcry, and in 2011, has even been linked to the electoral defeat of the ruling government, hither-to considered invincible.[9]