Guwahati: Inappropriate behaviour by any police personnel will not be tolerated in the coming days. Taking charge as the new Director General of Police (DGP) of Assam, GP Singh, on Tuesday said that punitive actions would be initiated against any erring police officials especially for ill-treating the common public.

Singh has promised the people of the state that during his term, the state police would not only carry forward the ongoing operations against crimes and militancy, but he would personally take note of any complaint against police officials misbehaving with any citizen.

“The whole aim is to make a citizen-centric police force in the state. A top official would be engaged in the police headquarters on a regular basis to address the grievances of the common public. Though I don’t want to take any punitive measure to correct the attitude or behaviour of police personnel at the beginning, strict action will be taken if received repeated complaints of such activity,” he said.

Moreover, the new DGP has emphasized the need for proper facilities for the women personnel in the force.

“All through my career, I have found that women police personnel undergo various health-related issues due to the lack of basic facilities when on duty. In the majority of the cases, women police personnel stop drinking sufficient water due to the lack of adequate toilet facilities in and around the area of their deployment. It’s a priority for me to provide better facilities to the women staff,” Singh added.

Earlier on Monday he said that the police officials of the state police needed to earn their respects rather than asking for it.  “I request all in the top and other colleagues that police need to respect the people’s opinion and intellect and stand by their side in crisis,” he tweeted.

Introducing Gyanendra Pratap Singh Director General of Police Assam

Born on November 8, 1967, Singh is an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1991 batch of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre. Hailing from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, he did his schooling and higher education at Lucknow.

After initial training at the prestigious SVP National Police Academy, Hyderabad, India, GP Singh joined Assam as an IPS trainee in 1992 when the state along with the rest of North-East was witness to a spurt in insurgent activities. As Assistant Superintendent of Police Sonitpur, Sub Divisional Police Officer Rangia and as Additional Superintendent of Police Nalbari he took an active part in the CI Ops in Lower Assam.

In recognition of the hard work done in the formative years of police work, Singh was posted to Jorhat, which had the unique distinction of being the only district other than the capital Guwahati to have carried out counter-insurgency operations without Army assistance under the Unified Headquarters scheme. He was subsequently posted as SP of the capital city of Guwahati and thereafter Barpeta.

He was part of the UNDP project on Improving the organization and Management of the Law Enforcement System in India, visiting the UK and working with various police forces in the UK including the National Police Training facility at Bramshil, leading to the setting up of Community Liaison Groups and Nagrik Samitis in Jorhat and Guwahati for greater Police – Public cooperation.

He joined the elite Special Protection Group at New Delhi in 2002. During this period, he successfully achieved specialized capabilities in VVIP protection. In recognition of his capabilities, he was given the responsibility of heading the close protection detail of two successive Prime Ministers of India, both within and outside the country.

On his return from Delhi assignment, GP Singh was posted as Deputy Inspector General and, subsequently, as, Inspector General of Police at Guwahati, where he was instrumental in dismantling the terror network of banned terrorist groups ULFA and NDFB at a time when Guwahati was grappling with the scourge of repeated IED explosions. This was achieved largely due to improved intelligence networks and community participation with aid of the Police Authority.

He was dispatched as IG North Assam Tezpur in 2010 after the ethnic massacre in Sonitpur district. He was again brought back to Guwahati in 2011 after the violence at Dispur in June 2011. Thereafter, he was sent as IGP BTAD Kokrajhar in 2012 after ethnic clashes broke out in BTAD.

From November 2013 to December 2019, he was posted as Inspector General with the National Investigation Agency at New Delhi, which is the specialized Counter Terrorism Investigation Agency of the Government of India. During this tenure, he worked extensively in the Northeast, Kashmir, Punjab, and the hinterland. He supervised the investigation of ISIS-related terror crimes in India as well as their international conspiracies. He also supervised the investigation of the Samjhauta, Malegaon, Ajmer Sharif, and Mecca Masjid blast cases, along with Pulwama, Uri, and Pathankot blast cases in J&K. He led the NIA effort in unearthing the involvement of separatist leaders in terror funding in J&K.

Curtailing the deputation tenure, he was brought back to Assam from NIA in December 2019 at the peak of CAA agitation in Assam. To his credit, the violent part of the agitation was curbed within a very short period in the entire state. He was also State Nodal Officer for the Inter-State Movement of people in the wake of the COVID-19 breakout and the subsequent lockdown that was imposed in the country, where lakhs of people stuck in different parts of India and abroad were safely brought back to their home state Assam.

From August 2020 till January 2023, he held additional charge of the Director, Anti-Corruption Bureau, Government of Assam and led the effort against corruption amongst government servants. This period witnessed highest ever recorded action against corrupt Government servants in Assam.

He also led the multi-agency Anti Rhino poaching task force of the Government of Assam and was instrumental in ensuring Zero Rhino poaching in 2022 for the first time in a period of 45 years.