The Hindu : New Delhi News : Three women arrested for ‘impeding government duty'

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Monday, Feb 07, 2011
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Three women arrested for ‘impeding government duty'

Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW: Three women from rural areas of the Uttar Pradesh, who ventured to expose, before the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, visiting Aligarh on Saturday, the alleged misdeeds of two Ministers, were put behind bars on Sunday for “creating obstacles in the [way of the] execution of government duty.”

Ms. Mayawati is currently on a mission to feel the pulse of the people and know the situation at the ground-zero level before next year's Assembly elections. Her surprise visits to different districts of the State began on February 1 and will continue till February 22.

Announcing the arrest of the three women, a senior Uttar Pradesh police official said they were charged with “breaking the security cordon and engaging themselves in a scuffle with security personnel”.

Additional Director General (Law and Order) Brij Lal said the arrests were made based on an FIR filed by a woman constable, Poonam Kumari.

Wanted to expose misdeeds of ministers

The women — Bahujan Samaj Party worker Suman Sagar, Sunita and Chandrawati — wished to expose misdeeds by the Irrigation Minister, Jaiveer Singh, and Rural Engineering Services Minister, Thakur Jaiveer Singh before the Chief Minister.

The Irrigation Minister was accused, by Ms. Sunita, of being involved in the murder of her father, Rajendra Kumar, a junior engineer in the tube-well department.

The deceased's family members have been in quest of justice since August 2010, when the junior engineer was killed in Shikohabad.

On Saturday, when Ms. Mayawati arrived in Salempur Maafi village, Sunita reportedly threw herself in front of the Chief Minister's cavalcade.

Though she was dragged away by security personnel, she managed to free herself, later presenting herself before Ms. Mayawati when the latter was inspecting a primary school in the village, and narrated how her father was killed in August last, reports from Aligarh said. Ms. Sagar accused RES Minister Thakur Jaiveer Singh of plotting her defeat in the panchayat elections for the post of Chief of Akbarabad block as a BSP-supported candidate.

She alleged that the RES minister demanded Rs.30 lakh for ensuring her victory in the election, reports said.

Charges denied

Both Ministers have denied the charges, terming them as “politically motivated”.

The incident on Saturday was the second one, in as many days, where aggrieved women have tried to meet the Chief Minister and apprise her of the misdeeds and highhandedness of the Ministers, ruling party functionaries and police men in the State.

During Ms. Mayawati's surprise visit to Salempur police station in Deoria district on Friday, a Dalit girl, named Baby, slapped a policeman, who dragged her by the hair, preventing her from meeting the Chief Minister.

On meeting the Chief Minister in the police station, the Dalit girl demanded justice for her sister, who was murdered in November last.

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