HC seeks details of Dalit woman's molestation in UP

The Allahabad high court on Friday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to apprise it of the details of a case involving alleged molestation of a Dalit woman by a police sub-inspector inside premises of a police station in the state capital.

The Lucknow bench comprising justices Uma Nath Singh and Saeed-Uz-Zaman Siddiqui sought the details from the state government, even as state Director General of Police Ambrish Chandra Sharma and Lucknow IG Ashutosh Pandey appeared before it in response to the court summonses to them over the incident.

The bench had issued summonses to them, while taking suo motu cognisance of the incident in its forenoon session and made them appear before it in the afternoon.

The bench also asked the two officers as to why can't they deploy "only the cultured and educated policemen" at police stations.

It also asked the government to explain within two weeks as to why the victim should not be paid compensation as well, even as the two senior officers told the court that adequate actions have been taken.

Sub-inspector Kamta Prasad Awasthi allegedly attempted to molest Dalit woman Shakuntala Devi at his official residence at Mal police station on July 11 night where he had called her on pretext of questioning.

Later an FIR was lodged against Awasthi and subsequently he was suspended and arrested.

Station Officer Mal Rakesh Kumar Singh was also suspended on charges of laxity, whereas circle officer Malihabad Jitendra Kumar Srivastava was shifted to intelligence wing of Ghaziabad as deputy SP.