Lucknow University vandalism: Chief Minister's axe falls in SSP Lucknow after High Court ire
LUCKNOW: A day after getting a dressing down by the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court for inept handling of violence and vandalism on Lucknow University campus on Wednesday, SSP Lucknow Deepak Kumar was shifted on Saturday.
According to an order released by he state home department late on Saturday night, the 2005 batch IPS officer was shunted to Ghaziabad as Commandent, 41 PAC Battalion. Kumar would be replaced by Senior Superintendent of Police, Bareilly, Kalanidhi Naithani. In all, the state government transferred six IPS officers on Saturday night.
As per the highly placed sources, action against Lucknow SSP came after CM Yogi Adityanath took serious note of the High Court's Friday observations in LU vandalism case and summoned the Principal Secretary, Home, Arvind Kumar and the DGP OP Singh on Friday night.
The CM directed te officials to remove district police chiefs who have failed to check law and order. Consequently, on Saturday afternoon, the SSP Lucknow was the first to get the marching orders but it was finalized in the night after CM's seal. Notably, on Wednesday, about a dozen teachers of Lucknow University were assaulted by a group of about 30 expelled students and outsiders.
As per the claims of varsity administration, the VC had informed the SSP office about outsiders indulging in violence in the campus beforehand and sought police help. But SSP Deepak Kumar did not send any force in time resulting in large scale vandalism and attack on teachers on the campus.
A two-member Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan had taken suo motu cognizance of the assault on the teachers and had summoned the SSP Deepak Kumar and others in the court.
The court had pulled up the SSP for his failure to check violence in the campus despite being informed by the varsity administration.When the SSP tried to offer an explanation, the court got annoyed and observed that despite having a police outpost deputed on campus, the teachers could not be saved from assault by the outsiders and anti-social elements on campus.