18 POLICEMEN SUSPENDED OVER BIJNOR COURT FIRING

PRAYAGRAJ: A day after a murder accused was shot dead inside a courtroom in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor, 18 police personnel, including a sub-inspector, were suspended on grounds of dereliction of duty on Wednesday, officials familiar with the matter said.

On Tuesday, 40-year-old Shahnawaz and two other men were brought to a court for trial in the murder case of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Haji Ahsan and his nephew.

Ahsan’s son, Sahil, and his two accomplices opened fire at the three under-trials when they were produced before the chief judicial magistrate, killing Shahnawaz and injuring the other two. The three attackers were arrested from the court premises.

“Eighteen police personnel, including a sub-inspector, of a police outpost have been suspended for laxity in connection with yesterday’s [Tuesday’s] firing in a Bijnor courtroom. The rest of the 17 are constables,” additional chief secretary (home) Awanish Awasthi said in a statement.

In a letter to Bijnor superintendent of police (SP) Sanjeev Tyagi, circle officer (city) Arun

Kumar Singh charged the suspended police personnel with dereliction of duty.

“It is expected from the police personnel on duty that they should allow any person to enter the court premises only after proper checking and frisking… The police personnel deployed in the security of the court are expected to discharge their duty with full dedication. However, this was not done, and as a result of which, the incident took place,” Singh said.