Kashmir cadre IPS officer who finally became the State Police Chief of his home state, Punjab, has lost in the just concluded state assembly elections. Contesting on Shiromani Akali Dal mandate, PS Gill was defeated by his Congress rival Joginder Pal Jain by 4625 votes.
Gill, a 1974 batch J&K cadre officer was handpicked by SAD-led government as Punjab DGP in 2000. He retired in September 2011. Post-retirement, Gill decided to contest from Moga, a seat that was earlier represented by his father. While the party managed to retain power despite a severe anti-incumbency wave, Gill, however, became a casualty.
The officer shifted to Punjab after Punjab chief minister made a request for the inter-state repatriation. Gill’s most vital position in J&K was his assignment as IGP Kashmir at the peak of militancy. It was the assignment which would help him be remembered in Kashmir for varied reasons.
During his reign as Kashmir police chief, Gill used iron hand and literally followed KPS Gill in fighting militancy. He gave free hand to the counter insurgency grid and created his own group that would execute special assignments. It was during that period that some top militant leaders were killed.
The most important case that made world headline in his era was kidnapping and subsequent assassination of the civil liberty lawyer Jaleel Andrabi. As there was little progress in the case, he was summoned to the High Court by the then judge Justice (now retired) Bilal A Nazki. Subsequently a special investigation team (SIT) was constituted to probe the case and actually solved it. The court did not permit the SIT to work under him as he tried to shift the investigations.
Gill was shifted as IGP Kashmir in the wake of militant attacks on the civil secretariat in 1999. However, he was given a separate position to continue the battle against the insurgents. Since then, he rarely saw a major assignment and then came the call from Punjab and Omar Abdullah obliged. He was transport commissioner, vigilance commissioner, additional DG law and order as well.
What made Gill different was that while he was posted out of J&K, he was always in touch. Some of his friends including police officials would go and see him regularly. Gill was part of the influential Punjabi lobby and had very close friends in politics. He is accused of helping some officials to survive unscathed in protracted legal battles in certain heinous crimes pending against them.
Interestingly Justice (retired) Nirmal Singh who was posted as judge in the State High Court won from Bassi Pathana. He was a SAD candidate who defeated Harbans Kaur, wife of former Punjab Congress president Shamsher Singh Dullo. Nirmal’s wife Gulshan Kaur is an MP representing Faridkot in Lok Sabha.
