->Suonii180: corrected parameters as per Template:Infobox person

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corrected parameters as per Template:Infobox person

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{{Use Indian English|date=January 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox person
|honorific_prefix = 
|name = Rahul Sharma
|honorific_suffix = 
|image =
|caption =
|occupation = [[Lawyer]], ex-[[Indian Police Service]] Officer
|birth_date =
|birth_place =
|death_date =
|death_place =
|awards = [[Satyendra K. Dubey Memorial Award]]
|relations =
|alma_mater = [[Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur]]
|education = [[Electrical Engineer]]
|known_for = policing during [[2002 Gujarat riots]]
|spouse = Sumita
}}

'''Rahul Sharma''' is an ex-[[Indian Police Service]] (IPS) officer of the [[Gujarat]] cadre turned practicing lawyer with [[Gujarat High Court]]. He was inducted into the service in 1992. He played a crucial role in policing operations during the [[2002 Gujarat riots]]. He was seconded to the [[Central Bureau of Investigation]] (CBI) in 2004, and served there for the next three years. Later, he served as the [[Deputy Inspector General|DIG]] (armed unit) at [[Rajkot]], Gujarat until seeking voluntary retirement from active service in 2015.<ref name="thorn">{{cite news |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/gujarat-riots-modi-government-rahul-sharma/1/147823.html |title=Gujarat riots: How IPS officer Rahul Sharma exposed 'rioters' |newspaper=India Today|date=12 August 2011}}</ref><ref>http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/gujarat-ips-officer-rahul-sharma-who-took-on-govt-to-retire/|title=Gujarat IPS officer Rahul Sharma who took on govt to retire</ref>

==Personal life==
Rahul Sharma is a 1992 Gujarat cadre ex-IPS officer. He received a Bachelor of Technology degree in Electrical Engineering from [[Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur]] (IIT-K) in 1987. He also has a degree in law.<ref name="grapevine">[http://www.iitk.ac.in/drpg/gvp/AlumniNews2012/ Grapevine: Newsletter of Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur 2012] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507145108/http://www.iitk.ac.in/drpg/gvp/AlumniNews2012/ |date=7 May 2013 }}</ref> Followed by the untimely death of his wife in 2013, he took retirement from the police service and started serving as a lawyer at Gujarat High Court.<ref>http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/guj-ips-officer-rahul-sharma-s-wife-dies-of-dengue-infection-113081800683_1.html|title=Guj: IPS officer Rahul Sharma's wife dies of dengue infection</ref><ref>http://zeenews.india.com/news/gujarat/ex-ips-rahul-sharma-who-took-on-gujarat-govt-to-be-lawyer_1561674.html|title=Ex-IPS Rahul Sharma, who took on Gujarat govt, to be lawyer</ref>

==2002 Gujarat riots==
===Bhavnagar===
When the [[2002 Gujarat riots]] broke out on 28 February 2002, Sharma was the Superintendent of Police (SP) in [[Bhavnagar]] district, heading a 180-strong police force. He became widely known as one of the few district police chiefs to have "responded vigorously" to control the violence.{{sfn|Mitta|2014|p = 83}}


On the third day of the violence (2 March), a mob of about 10,000 people tried to set fire to a [[madrasa]] on the outskirts of Bhavnagar, a residential Muslim school sheltering 400 students. Sharma issued orders to open fire on the mob, causing injuries and some fatalities, thereby dispersing the mob and averting a disaster. Subsequently, he transferred the children to a safer location inside the city. His timely action was praised by [[L. K. Advani]], the then Union Home Minister, in India's Parliament as well as in his autobiography.<ref name="iitk">{{cite news |title=IIT-K alumni honour Rahul Sharma |newspaper=The Times of India|date=22 February 2013 |accessdate=30 August 2014 |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/IIT-K-alumni-honour-Rahul-Sharma/articleshow/18621030.cms}}
</ref>{{sfn|Mitta|2014|p = 83}} On the other hand, [[Narendra Modi]], the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, was angry, according to [[Kingshuk Nag]], complaining that he was "trying to seek cheap publicity and act like a hero."{{sfn|Nag|2013|p = 100}}

Sharma's actions also angered the state home minister [[Gordhan Zadafia]], who is reported to have said that "the ratio of deaths" due to police firing was "not proper," meaning that more Hindus than Muslims died due to police firing in Bhavnagar. Sharma also refused to release 21 miscreants arrested for attack on a mosque, as requested by [[BJP]] politicians. Local [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] newspapers complained that Hindus were not able to avenge the [[Godhra train burning]]. Sharma was transferred out of field operations on 24 March and posted as the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) in Ahmedabad's control room.{{sfn|Mitta|2014|p = 84}}

===Crime Branch and Call Data Records===
In his new role as the deputy commissioner in [[Ahmedabad]], Sharma was asked to assist the Crime Branch of Ahmedabad in investigating the [[Gulbarg Society massacre|Gulberg Society]] and [[Naroda Patiya massacre|Naroda Patiya]] cases. Noting the allegations of complicity by police officers and political leaders in the riots, he suggested that their mobile phone records be examined to ascertain their movements. Accordingly, mobile phone 'call data records' (CDR) were requested from the local phone companies [[Idea Cellular]] and [[Vodafone India]]. The Crime Branch chief, [[P. P. Pandey]], asked Sharma to process the data himself since it was his idea, which required him to copy the data onto his home computer. Before he could complete the processing, Sharma was transferred out of his post again, in early July. He said that he handed over the CD's containing the data to Pandey through a messenger, but they became untraceable afterwards. Several years after the event, the Gujarat government claimed that Sharma did not submit the CDs and charged him with misconduct.<ref name="chargesheet">{{cite news |title=Gujarat govt chargesheets 'whistle-blower' IPS officer Rahul Sharma |newspaper=rediff.com |date=13 August 2011 |accessdate=2014-08-30 |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/report/gujarat-govt-chargesheets-rahul-sharma/20110813.htm}}</ref><ref name="stay">{{cite news |title=CAT stays action against Rahul Sharma |newspaper=The Times of India|date=4 April 2012 |accessdate=2014-08-30 |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/CAT-stays-action-against-Rahul-Sharma/articleshow/12525351.cms}}
</ref>

Since Sharma had a copy of the data on his home computer, he was able to copy it to CD's and submit it to the [[Nanavati-Shah commission]] and the Banerjee Committee in 2004, and the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team later in 2008. The advocate [[Mukul Sinha]] representing [[Jan Sangharsh Manch]] asked for a copy of the CD from the Banerjee Committee and received it. This enabled lawyers, activists and victims to cite the data, implicating a number of political leaders and police officers, including [[Maya Kodnani]], [[Jaideep Patel]], [[Babu Bajrangi]], police inspector K. K. Mysorewala and senior police officers M. K. Tandon and P. B. Gondia. Calls were also found to have been exchanged with the Home Minister Gordhan Zadafia and the Chief Minister's office in the midst of riots.{{sfn|Mitta|2014|pp = 87ff}}<ref name="verdict">{{cite news |title=Naroda verdict may spell trouble for top cops, ex-minister |newspaper=Hindustan Times |date=1 September 2012 |accessdate=2014-08-30 |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/newdelhi/naroda-verdict-may-spell-trouble-for-top-cops-ex-minister/article1-922664.aspx |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904005836/http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/newdelhi/naroda-verdict-may-spell-trouble-for-top-cops-ex-minister/article1-922664.aspx |archivedate=4 September 2014}}
</ref><ref name="ten">{{cite news | title=10 people who got away |newspaper=Tehelka |date=10 March 2012 |accessdate=2014-08-30 |url=http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main52.asp?filename=Ne100312INDICTMENTS_PEOPLE.asp}}
</ref><ref name="deadly">{{cite web | author=Jan Sangharsh Manch | title = The Deadly Plan: How the Gujarat riots were engineered | publisher=TruthofGujarat |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/215666808/The-Deadly-Plan-How-the-Gujarat-Riots-were-Engineered}}
</ref>
But the Special Investigation Team did not take action against the senior police officers and politicians.

===Nanavati Commission Report===
The [[Nanavati-Shah commission]] report on the riots has raised a finger of suspicion over the role of Rahul Sharma (among others) in the riots.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/nanavati-commission-on-2002-gujarat-riots-clears-modi-cabinet-points-fingers-at-3-cops/story-DniusXKUh1Ivgz82JL2oaO.html|title=Nanavati Commission on 2002 riots clears then Gujarat CM, points fingers at 3 cops|date=11 December 2019}}</ref>

==Activism==
Sharma along with Jan Sangharsh Manch organized a rally for civil rights for [[Dalits]] in general and to protest the flogging of Dalit youths at [[Una, Gujarat]] in particular in August 2016.<ref>http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/days-after-show-of-unity-dalit-outfits-go-separate-ways-2956647/|title=Una flogging: Days after show of unity, Dalit outfits go separate ways</ref>

==Recognition==
In 2012, Sharma was awarded the [[Satyendra K. Dubey Memorial Award]] by the IIT-K alumni for having distinguished himself with highest professional integrity.<ref name="grapevine" /><ref name="iitk" />

==Politics==
In Jun 2017, he declared to float a political party i.e. Smart Party along with some of his friends to contest upcoming assembly elections.<ref name="smart">{{cite web| title=Rahul Sharma to float 'smart' political outfit|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/rahul-sharma-to-float-smart-political-outfit/articleshow/59209688.cms}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|last=Mitta |first=Manoj |title=The Fiction of Fact-Finding: Modi & Godhra |year=2014 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers India |isbn=978-93-5029-187-0 }}
* {{cite book |last=Nag |first=Kingshuk |title=The NaMo Story - A Political Life |year=2013 |publisher=Roli Books| isbn=978-8174369383 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharma, Rahul}}
[[Category:Indian police officers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:2002 Gujarat riots]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]

Rahul Sharma (Gujarat police) - Revision history

->Suonii180: corrected parameters as per Template:Infobox person