Soumen Mitra

Last updated

Soumen Mitra
38th Police Commissioner of Kolkata
In office
8 February 2021 –31 December 2021
Alma mater
Police career
Service Indian Police Service
Department West Bengal Police Kolkata Police
Service years1988–2021
StatusRetired
Badge no.19881066 [1]
Awards IND President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service.png President's Police Medal (for Distinguished Service)
IND Police Medal for Meritorious Service.png Police Medal for Meritorious Service
IND 50th Anniversary Independence medal.svg 50th Anniversary Independence Medal

Soumen Mitra (born 16 December 1961) is an Indian police Service officer of the 1988 batch [2] and was allotted the West Bengal cadre [3] . He was the 38th Police Commissioner of Kolkata [4] . Mitra started his police career as a probationary officer in Darjeeling. After his probationary period , Mitra served as ASP (Operations) Darjeeling, SDPO Barrackpore with additional charge as ADC to the Governor of West Bengal, Addl. SP Murshidabad, Addl. SP Asansol, Dy Commissioner of Police (Special), Detective Department Kolkata Police, SP Murshidabad, SC Nort Division, Kolkata, SP Howrah, Dy Commissioner of Police, Detective Department Kolkata Police, Jt CP (Organisation) Kolkata Police, DIG CID, DIG Presidency Range, IGP CID, Addl. CP Kolkata Police with additional charge as MD Kolkata Police Housing & Infrastructure Development Corp Ltd., Spl CP Kolkata Police, ADG CID, Commissioner of Police Kolkata, ADG Training Branch with additional charge as Advisor, WBSEDCL & Director WBPH&IDCL. and again Commissioner of Police Kolkata. AS DC DD he led investigations into the 2002 attack on the American Culture Centre by terrorists and in the 2001 Kolkata Stock Exchange scam.

Contents

Mitra served as Police Commissioner of Kolkata twice, first appointed by the Election Commission of India in 2016 during the West Bengal Legislative Assembly elections and secondly appointed by the Government of West Benga l in 2021. He received huge accolades from the media and common people for conducting  free & fair elections in Kolkata without any violence during his tenures as CP in the two Assembly Elections of 2016 and 2021 [5] . Mitra retired on 31 December 2021 as CP Kolkata. Post superannuation, Government of West Bengal appointed him as Director, Training of WBP for 2 years [6] . He is the recipient of the Indian Police Medal for Meritorious Service, the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service [7] , the Chief Minister’s Police Medal for Outstanding Service [8] and the Anirudh Bhargava INTACH Environmental Award [9] . He is also known for his keen interest in heritage conservation, having helped restore several historical structures of Kolkata Police and  West Bengal Police.

Early life and career

Born in 1961, Mitra was educated at St. Xavier's Collegiate School Kolkata, Presidency College Kolkata and Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi, completing his Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts and Master of Philosophy. A history graduate, he qualified for the Civil Services examinations and was inducted into the Indian Police Service, belonging to the 1988-batch in the West Bengal cadre [3] . Initially, he started out as a probation officer in Darjeeling before being appointed the Assistant Superintendent of Police (Operations) in Darjeeling. Subsequently, Mitra held the posts of SDPO Barrackpore, Addl. SP Murshidabad, Addl. SP Asansol, DC DD (Special), DC North, SP Howrah, DC DD Kolkata, Jt CP (Organisation) Kolkata, DIG CID, DIG Presidency Range, IG CID, Addl. CP Kolkata, Spl CP Kolkata, ADG CID, Commissioner of Police, Kolkata ADG Training and again Commissioner of Police Kolkata [4] . Barrackpore, Howrah and Murshidabad. During this time, he developed a reputation for starting welfare and development projects in areas where he was posted. He is credited to have started the Chandradeep Mela, an annual social event in Hariharpara, an area known for its criminal activities and communal violence, which helped stabilize the atmosphere.

Mitra was transferred to the Kolkata Police to serve as a deputy commissioner for the detective department. He helped lead the police team in investigating the attack on the American Culture Centre in Kolkata in 2002 and helped investigate the Kolkata Stock Exchange scam [10] [11] perpetrated in 2001. Later, he was also put in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department of the West Bengal Police.

Police Commissioner (2016)

In the run up to the 2016 Assembly Elections in West Bengal, Mitra was appointed the Commissioner of the Kolkata Police by the Election Commission of India despite opposition from the incumbent Trinamool Congress government on 13 April 2016. Mitra's predecessor, Rajeev Kumar was seen as biased towards the ruling party and the other parties contesting the elections had filed petitions to the Election Commission alleging mismanagement of the elections due to rampant incidents of poll violence targeted at members of those parties [12] . Mitra who perceived to be a rival of Kumar, cracked down on poll violence, and was credited with ensuring free and fair elections without any violence. Subsequently, after the Trinamool government came back to power with a landslide victory, Soumen Mitra was removed from his post as Police Commissioner and was appointed as the Additional Director General of Police, Training Branch.

Police Commissioner (2021)

In February 2021, Mitra was again appointed as the Police Commissioner of the Kolkata Police in the period prior to the 2021 Assembly Elections in West Bengal by Mamata Banerjee’s government. In August 2021, Mitra received the Chief Minister’s Police Medal [8] for Outstanding Service and also the Anirudh Bhargava INTACH Environment Award [9] . Mitra continued being the police commissioner after the conclusion of the 2021 elections until he retired from the Indian Police Service in December 2021.

Other interests

Mitra is known in the police force for bringing his interest in heritage restoration [13] . In 2004, Mitra helped rescue and restore a dilapidated building on Ripon Street which was occupied by Ramendra Narayan Roy (popularly known as the Sanyasi Raja) when he was fighting his legal battles in the Bhawal case [14] . In 2015, he helped restore the Police Training School which had previously served as one of India's first mental asylum and was considered iconic due to its unique architecture style that was pioneered by Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century.

Literary works

Mitra's M Phil dissertation has been published as a book entitled In Search of an Identity: The History of Football in Colonial Calcutta, 1880–1950.   This work was translated into Bengali and published as ‘Colonial Kolkatar Football’

In 2019 he collaborated with his wife, Monabi Mitra, in writing Under The Banyan Tree: The Forgotten Story of Barrackpore Park, narrating the two hundred year-old history of Government House Barrackpore [15] .

In 2021 he co authored with Nikhil Kapur in writing Built Heritage of Kolkata Police.

Personal life

Soumen Mitra is married and resides in Kolkata. His wife, Monabi Mitra, is a professor of English and a crime novelist. [16]

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References

  1. ↑ "IPS CIVIL LIST 2014". 2014. Archived from the original on 15 October 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  2. ↑ "Soumen Mitra News Photo Soumen Mitra". timesofindia.com.
  3. 1 2 "No.I-21023/04/2011-IPS-IV - Government of India - Ministry of Home Affairs" (PDF). ips.gov.in. 3 August 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Soumen Mitra becomes new Kolkata Police Commissioner". 7 February 2021.
  5. ↑ "Arakh". Desh (magazine) (in Bengali). Desh (magazine): page. 14-16. 17 May 2016
  6. ↑ "West Bengal: Soumen Mitra appointed as Officer on Special Duty and Director, Training in rank of DGP".
  7. ↑ "PRESIDENT'S POLICE MEDAL FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE" (PDF).
  8. 1 2 "Kolkata top cop Soumen Mitra to receive CM's medal for outstanding service".
  9. 1 2 "Environmental award for Kolkata CP Soumen Mitra".
  10. ↑ "Calcutta Stock Exchange scam prime accused held". 21 November 2002.
  11. ↑ "Former CSE president arrested". 11 June 2003.
  12. ↑ "Kolkata Police Chief Rajeev Kumar Removed By Election Commission". www.ndtv.com. 12 April 2016.
  13. ↑ "Remembrances and revisitations: Restoring colonial buildings in Kolkata". www.telegraphindia.com. 26 December 2024.
  14. ↑ "Sanyasi Raja house now a police hub". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 25 January 2014.
  15. ↑ "Under The Banyan Tree: The Forgotten Story of Barrackpore Park". www.telegraphindia.com. 26 December 2024.
  16. ↑ Ghose, Chandrayee; Chauduri, Trina (29 December 2013). "Confessions of a crime writer". The Telegraph (India) . Retrieved 15 July 2024.
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