DIG parties hard while Faizabad boils in communal flare

Uttar Pradesh police is known for its notorious act and there are numerous such instances where its insensitivity was questioned. In a latest, the police administration in UP's riot-hit Faizabad was seen merry-making while Faizabad district was on the verge of communal tension. Shirking away from their real responsibility where they had to take action for controlling communal flare up, which erupts after the gangrape and murder of a 17-year-old girl in the area, instead they were partying.

As per reports, embarrassing images of DIG (Faizabad range) Nilabhja Chaudhary and former CDO of Faizabad Akhand Pratap Singh propped up on social media where they were partying on the intervening night of August 17 and 18 - when the girl's body was forcibly buried allegedly upon the insistence of police authorities. This incident has once again exposed the callous attitude of senior UP cops towards sensitive issues in the district.

What was the cops' reaction?

As per an India Today report, the police officer was reportedly attending a function organised by the 63rd Battalion of the CRPF that celebrated its Raising Day on August 17. Asked about the issue, DIG Chaudhary said, "I just went there as a guest. I will not be able to say anything beyond this." Chaudhary is part of the team that is investigating the rape-murder of the Faizabad girl, sources said.

However, the former CDO Singh gave a safe excuse saying he was transferred a few days ago and was a guest there.

Meanwhile, Faizabad's District Magistrate Anil Dhignra made a controversial statement on the gang rape and murder case which has exposed the sorry law and order situation in the state. "It is an incident that took place due to a love affair. We are investigating the matter in this direction," Dhingra had said during a news conference.

What is Faizabad gang-rape case?

A teenage-girl, belonging to a majority community, was abducted on Saturday from Faizabad's Himaniganj area. She was allegedly gangraped and brutally assaulted by the accused, belonging to minority community, which led to her death. The main accused had been identified as Nadeem, police said.

As per the complaint filed by the victim's family, the girl was abducted by Nadeem along with some other youths in a Bolero when she went to a local market on Saturday.

The police initially failed to trace the girl but a few hours later her body was found with multiple wounds on the Lucknow-Faizabad highway near the neighbouring Barabanki district.

The girl was rushed to a private hospital in Barabanki, which later referred her to a trauma centre in Lucknow. As per cops, the girl named Nadeem in her dying declaration.

However, the police said that both the girl and man were known to each other, and people who were present in the market didn't notice anything unusual when the girl "got into the vehicle".

Why clashes broke in Faizabad?

After name of a boy belonging to minority emerged the police tried to pass off the incident as an accident initially. Meanwhile on wee Monday morning, the cops did not allow victim's funeral and forcibly buried the body. This angered a particular community and triggered tensions in this communally sensitive UP town.

As per sources the police had even issued a verbal diktat to the media asking them not to cover the incident.

Later on Sunday, local BJP leaders too reached the victim's family and called for an agitation against the ruling Samajwadi Party government's ‘appeasement' of a particular community. Heavy police was deployed in the area and four persons were arrested.

Callousness of UP police exposed once again

At a time when senior police officials are expected to calm the tension in the communally sensitive areas, they are seen partying and dancing. These pictures are disturbing as it poses grave question over seriousness of the police administration and its lack of will to tackle such volatile situations.

Cops are expected to dispose such cases on a fast track basis instead of giving vested interest groups a chance to sensesationalise horrific incidents like rapes. But, police's insensitivity worsens the matters. Such sights are testimony to the fact that law and order in communally sensitive Uttar Pradesh has yet not improved a bit.