No, Punjab Police Chief DGP Sumedh Singh Saini didn’t exactly say “that’s how we roll” (as mentioned in the headline) when asked why his men didn’t wear bulletproof vests during Monday’s siege against terrorists at Dinanagar Police Station. But his answer was close enough, believe it or not.
Sumedh Singh Saini told Economic Times’ Aman Sharma,
We had many (bulletproof vests) in the bus, but our munde (boys) fight like this only!
The lack of bulletproof vests had become a key debating point in the aftermath of Mumbai 26/11 attack. The state and central government of the day came under heavy criticism not just due to shortfall of these vests but over faulty quality of the vests as well.
Bravado, it seems, replaced common sense during the Gurdaspur operation by Punjab police.
Watch Punjab Police commandos move in to the hot spot on July 27, when the attack took place.
Questions were also raised over Saini’s decision not allowing the Army to take charge of the operation.
Former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Indian Army’s Northern and Central Commands, Lt Gen HS Panag (Retd) had criticised Saini for ‘delaying’ the operation to secure the area in Dinanagar despite the Army’s availability.
Once referred to as Punjab’s very own Dirty Harry, Saini is no stranger to controversy. He has earned both accolades and criticism.
Saini won the nation’s highest gallantry award in 1987, was the target of an assassination attempt in 1991 and in 2012, Saini became the youngest officer to become Punjab’s Director General of Police.
Saini is also accused of being involved in abduction and killing of three persons in 1994.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)