ASP among 3 cops shunted out; Hapur Bar Association says will continue stir

Lawyers in Uttar Pradesh had been striking since August 30 over the alleged police lathi-charge in Hapur the day before.

“Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mukesh Chandra Verma, Circle Officer (City) Ashok Kumar Sisodhiya and Hapur Nagar SHO Satendra Prakash Singh have been transferred out of the district,” said Superintendent of Police (Hapur) Abhishek Verma.

“The transfer has been ordered by the government following talks with the lawyers’ groups,” he added.
The ASP has been transferred to Bareilly and Sisodhiya to Saharanpur, according to information provided by the Police Headquarters in Lucknow.

Rajkumar has been appointed as the new Hapur ASP and Jitendra Kumar Verma the new circle officer.

Even as lawyers across the state resumed work on Friday, advocates in Hapur, who were demanding the transfer of senior police officials, continued to abstain. “The protest will continue. We have called a meeting on Saturday to decide the future course of action,” Hapur Bar Association Secretary Narendra Sharma said.

Meanwhile, an emergency meeting of the general body of the Lucknow Bar Association was held on Friday under the chairmanship of President Suresh Pandey and General Secretary Kuldeep Narayan Mishra, in which it was decided to support the ongoing strike by their colleagues in Hapur.

Mishra told PTI that the association condemned the police action in Hapur and refused to accept the state bar council’s decision to call off the strike.

Advocates of the Lucknow Bar Association will reach Hapur on Saturday and stay away from judicial work, he added.

According to reports, lawyers from Ballia also passed a resolution to abstain from judicial work on Friday and Saturday. The lawyers expressed solidarity with their colleagues in Hapur and said “it is not justified for the Bar Council (of Uttar Pradesh) to end the strike in such a situation”.