Amid crisis in UP, officials shake a leg with bar girls

Amid the flood fury that has forced lakhs of people to flee their homes and spend nights in the open and the communal flare-ups, police and other officials in Uttar Pradesh have managed to spare time to watch bar girls perform at  ‘official functions’.

In incidents reflecting lack of sensitivity,  dance programmes by bar girls were reportedly organised at a police station in Lakhimpur-Kheri district, at a jail in Baharaich district and also in violence-torn Faizabad.

Senior police officials here went into hiding soon after a video, purportedly showing the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Faizabad, Nilabhaja Chaudhary shaking hips with a bar girl at a programme, went viral.

The programme was organised on Sunday night, the day Faizabad town witnessed
violence after the alleged gang-rape and brutal murder of a girl.

The outgoing Chief Development Officer (CDO) of Faizabad, Akhand Pratap Singh was also seen giving company to Chaudhary in the video.

Govt seeks report

Sources here said the government has sought a report on the matter.

The dance programmes by bar girls were also organised inside Baharaich jail and a police station in Lakhimpur-Kheri districts on ‘Janmashtami’.

Incidentally, both these districts had been devastated by floods in which over 40 people, including women and children, lost their lives.

In a video clip, Baharaich jail Superintendent A K Singh was seen asking the audience, which comprised mainly prisoners, to shower money on dancers.

“Why are you not taking money out from your pockets? It is not a crime to shower money on artists at cultural programmes,” Singh was heard saying in the video.

An inquiry has been ordered in both the incidents. “Stern action will be taken against officials found guilty,” said a senior official here.