Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday accused the Yogi Adityanath government of targeting police officers of a “particular caste”, after IPS officer Himanshu Kumar was suspended for “indiscipline”.
Mr. Kumar was recently in news for his controversial tweets accusing senior police officers of targeting subordinates of a particular caste. “Only policemen of one particular caste are being suspended and transferred and everybody knows about it,” Mr. Yadav said during an interaction with the press ahead of the Samajwadi Party’s national executive meet.
The Samajwadi Party, which Mr. Yadav heads, has also been accused by political opponents in the past of working in the interest of a particular caste. Earlier, a Home Department spokesman said, “IPS officer of the 2010 batch, Himanshu Kumar has been suspended for indiscipline.” Though Mr. Kumar’s tweet of March 22 that stirred controversy in the State has since been deleted, its screenshot is still doing the rounds. The deleted tweet said: “There is now a rush among senior officers to suspend/send to reserve lines all police personnel who have ‘Yadav’ surname.”
In the name of caste
In another tweet, Mr. Kumar said, “Why DGP office forcing officers to punish people in the name of caste?” Later, Mr. Kumar put out another tweet saying, “Some people have misunderstood my tweet. I support the initiative of the government.”
After his suspension, Mr. Kumar tweeted: “Truth alone triumphs.”
The suspended officer was attached with the Director General of Police’s office in Lucknow, where he had been posted by the Election Commission. He was earlier posted as the Superintendent of Police in Mainpuri and Firozabad, which are known SP bastions.
The IPS officer was in the news last July for filing a case against his estranged wife.
