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Cops suspended for failure to protect Mayawati hoardings

LUCKNOW: Four policemen, including a sub-inspector, were suspended for failing to prevent a hoarding of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati, from being burnt down by Samajwadi Party supporters in Kannauj on Thursday. The incident occurred during the SP’s state-wide agitation against the ban imposed on student’s union elections in Uttar Pradesh.

The suspension orders of the four cops were issued by the State Government on Friday.

Special Secretary ( Home), Gyan Singh, said here that the policemen were on duty at the gates of the Tehsil headquarters in Kannauj when the Samajwadi Party activists tried storm the office. The Home official said some SP supporters inflicted damage on the Chief Minister’s hoarding erected near the Tehsil gates and tried to set it ablaze.

Mr. Singh said the policemen were punished for dereliction of duty as they failed to prevent the agitators from inflicting damage to the Chief Minister’s hoarding. The policemen suspended are Ram Kumar Yadav, sub-inspector posted in Gursahayganj police station in Kannauj district, and three constables, Devi Prasad, Khushi Ram and Jafar Husain.

Incidents of the Samajwadi Party activists defacing the Chief Minister’s hoardings and banners during the party’s state-wide demonstration on Thursday were reported from Varanasi, Etawah, Allahabad and other parts of the State. Around 4000 SP leaders and workers, including former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh’s son, Akhilesh Yadav and former Minister, Ahmed Hasan, were arrested and later released.

In the State Capital, the police had a tough time to retrieve the Chief Minister’s effigy tied to gas filled balloons, which was released by the Samajwadi Party activists at three different places in Lucknow.

The SP agitation was part of a programme to protest against the ban imposed by the Mayawati Government on students’ union elections and the alleged excesses being committed against the activists of the Samajwadi Party student wing.

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Cops suspended for failure to protect Mayawati hoardings

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