An IPS officer in Uttar Pradesh has been suspended weeks after he gave an interview to an English portal on how he had been sidelined over the years especially after he had booked CM Yogi Adityanath, then Gorakhpur MP, under the National Security Act in 2002.
U.P. police spokesperson R.K. Gautam confirmed that the 1992 batch IPS officer Jasvir Singh, who was last posted as ADG Rules and Manual, was placed under suspension. However, he did not clarify why. When asked on a private WhatsApp group of the U.P. police meant for journalists, he said the information circulating about the reason for the suspension was correct.
Mr. Singh was allegedly suspended for violation of service rules by making controversial statements and for being absent without taking leave approval. According to the U.P. police website, Mr. Singh was suspended on February 14. “ADG under suspension,” it read under his current post section.
Mr. Singh was the SP of Maharajganj district in Purvanchal in 2002 when he booked Mr. Adityanath under the NSA. In a story published in HuffingtonPost on January 30, Mr. Singh was quoted as saying that he had refused to withdraw the case for preventive detention against the then sitting MP, Mr. Adityanath, despite pressure from the BJP, in power at the Centre at the time, and the BSP, which formed the State government. Two days later, he was transferred to the Food Cell of the U.P. police, said the story.
Mr. Singh had also taken strong action against Raghuraj Pratap Singh aka Raja Bhaiya, then Food Minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, in the Lakhimpur Kheri food scam case.
‘Paying the price’
The police officer says he paid the price for trying to hold politicians and Ministers to account, as per the article, in which he also questions the encounter killings under the Yogi government. Mr. Singh is quoted as saying: “They want loyalty to political persons. This is totally unconstitutional. If we don’t resist, things won’t change. Resisting is the most rewarding thing especially when there is a big allurement.”
