UP cop refuses to appear as witness

Says even death sentence will not make him comply

An Uttar Pradesh policeman, who had been summoned to appear as a witness in an attempt-to-murder case, virtually challenged the authority of the court when he made it clear to the judge that he would not appear “come what may”.

The policeman in question is A K Shukla, who is an inspector in the UP Police, and is currently posted in Allahabad.

Shukla was the in-charge of Gosainganj police station, when there was an attempt on the life of a person in 2009.

A case was registered and the accused were arrested. They have been in jail since 2009. Shukla was also listed as one of the witnesses in the case but all attempts by the court to get him to appear has failed so far. All other witnesses have deposed and only Shukla’s testimony was yet to be recorded.

The court had earlier issued an arrest warrant against Shukla and a show cause notice, yet he failed to turn up. The court had on March 14 imposed a fine of Rs 100 on him and written to the senior officials to ensure his presence.

When this order too was not complied with, the court issued a show cause notice to the district police chief of Allahabad.

According to sources, Shukla called up the judge a few days back and said categorically that he would not appear as a witness under any circumstances. “Even if you sentence me to death, I shall not come,” he reportedly said.

The matter was brought to the notice of the home department officials and instructions have been issued to ensure his presence in the court.

Earlier, the UP policemen had caused embarrassment to the government by their behaviour. Only recently, a senior officer had threatened to resign in protest against use of abusive language by his senior officer.