New Delhi: Former IPS officer Julio Ribeiro, who was given the Nani Palkhivala award, said on January 21, Saturday, that he will donate the cash component of his award to rights activist Harsh Mander's NGO.

LiveLaw reported him as saying, "I am told that at present a government agency has been summoning Harsh Mandar. Someone has to say no to power. If more citizens speak up like Harsh is doing, the government would definitely sit up and take notice."

The event was organised in association with the Bombay Bar Association.

In September 2021, the Enforcement Directorate raided Mander’s home in Vasant Kunj, his office in Adhchini, and a children’s home in Mehrauli which his organisation, the Centre for Equity Studies, helped establish. After the raids, more than 500 academics, activists and others condemned the ED action.

Ribeiro, a Padma Bhushan recipient has served as Mumbai police commissioner. He was also director-general of Punjab and Gujarat and the Central Reserve Police Force. He had also led the Punjab Police during the Punjab insurgency periods that started in the early 1980s, during which he spearheaded the crackdown on Sikh militants.

According to Outlook, he has also faced two assassination attempts – one in 1986, when six men in police disguise attacked him at the Punjab Police headquarters, and another in 1991 when he was the Indian Ambassador to Romania.

His autobiography is titled Bullet for Bullet: My Life as a Police Officer.

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