Mumbai:
In a move that seems loaded to favour politicians, policemen in Maharashtra have been asked not to maintain records of phone calls from politicians.
The circular was issued on November 18, 2010 by the state's Home Ministry and orders policemen not to make any entries in police station diaries if politicians call regarding police cases.
The notice comes in the midst of a controversy over a senior Maharashtra politician and Union Cabinet Minister using his office to influence a police case to protect another politician.
In December 2010, the Supreme Court fined the Maharashtra government Rs 10 lakh and reprimanded Vilasrao Deshmukh for allowing his office to be misused in a phone call made in 2006. Deshmukh was then the Chief Minister. His Personal Assistant had called a police station in Khamgaon and asked an officer not to register a case against the local Congress MLA, Dilipkumar Sananda. Farmers in the area had alleged that the MLA and his family were involved in money-lending.
The Bombay High Court had ordered the state government to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 in March, 2009. The government had appealed against that - and it was while this appeal was pending in the Supreme Court that the notice was sent to policemen all over the state.