Four days after the brutal killing of a Dalit girl after being allegedly gang-raped in Hathras district in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government on Friday suspended the district police chief and four other cops on charges of laxity and ordered their narco test along with the family members of the victim.
According to the official sources here, Hathras superintendent of police Vikrant Veer, deputy SP Ram Shabad, station house in-charge Dinesh Kumar Verma and two other cops were suspended.
Sources said that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also directed a thorough probe into the allegations of negligence and laxity against the suspended cops. The decision to suspend these cops was taken on the basis of the preliminary findings of the special investigation team (SIT), which was handed over the probe of the incident.
The role of the local police came under the scanner after the family members of the victim alleged that the cops did not take any action against the culprits, when she was allegedly gang raped and brutalised by four youths, who hailed from the same village.
It was also alleged that there was an attempt to coerce the family to agree to the cremation of the victim after she died at a Delhi hospital on Tuesday. The police allegedly held the family members hostage in their house in the village and forcibly cremated the body at midnight, despite strong protests by the family.
The high-handedness of the police drew flak from different quarters and there were demands for strong action against them. The opposition parties have termed the suspensions as a "damage control exercise". "The action is too little and too late.....the guilty cops must be put behind the bars and prosecuted for murder," said a senior UP Congress leader here.
Sources said that some more district officials could be acted against in the days to come.
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