A senior police officer in Karnataka’s Dharwad who had requested voluntary retirement from service (VRS) after Siddaramaiah raised his hand against him in April, Thursday withdrew his application after speaking to the chief minister and Home Minister G Parameshwara.
In April, Siddaramaiah raised his hand against Narayan Barmani, Additional Superintendent of Police, Dharwad, on stage during a Congress rally in Belagavi. The video went viral, drawing criticism from the Opposition against the Karnataka chief minister’s high-handedness against the senior police officer.
Confirming that he spoke to Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara, Barmani said Thursday afternoon, “I work in the disciplinary force. I had expressed my emotions with my seniors, after that senior police officers, the chief minister and home minister spoke to me. I will now attend my routine work”.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Parameshwara confirmed that he spoke to Barmani. “I will give him a posting. It happened in the spur of the moment, and there was no ill intention. It was intentional. Even H K Patil (Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister) has also spoken to him,” said Parameshwara.
‘I broke down before my family’
Barmani’s VRS application letter, reportedly sent to Dharwad SP, expressing his disappointment against the chief minister’s conduct, went viral.
In a three-page letter, Barmani expressed the trauma he experienced after the April incident, and said that news channels widely reported the CM’s conduct. “After that, when I went home, there was total silence. I broke down before my family.”
The police officer, with 31 years of experience, said no senior officers from the police department or the CM’s office contacted him. “I may have missed the CM’s slapping, but not the public humiliation.”
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“After the incident, I went into depression, but I returned to my duty to forget the incident. However, people who came to me with their problems asked me, ‘If people like you are suffering from such problems, how about the common public?’ This was also discussed among other government officials. When I could not get justice for myself, how can I provide it to others?” he asked in the letter.