Bareilly SDM asks man to squat, gets removed; he denies
Bareilly District Magistrate Shivakant Dwivedi said, “I had asked a senior officer to check veracity of the video and the SDM was found guilty of misconduct. Prima facie, the SDM did not behave properly. Thus, disciplinary action was taken against him.”
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A video grab purportedly showing Pappu Lodhi at the SDM’s office The Bareilly district administration in Uttar Pradesh has removed a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) at Meerganj tehsil for allegedly making a 42-year-old man, who had come to his office with a complaint, squat on the floor and hold both ears as a punishment.
SDM Udit Pawar has been attached to the district headquarters after a video of the alleged incident surfaced online on Friday. The video showed the officer purportedly asking the man, identified by officials as Pappu Lodhi, a resident of Madanpur village in Meerganj tehsil, to squat — colloquially called making someone sit in ‘murga’ position — in his office.
Pawar denied the charges and claimed that the complainant “squatted on his own”.
Bareilly District Magistrate Shivakant Dwivedi said, “I had asked a senior officer to check veracity of the video and the SDM was found guilty of misconduct. Prima facie, the SDM did not behave properly. Thus, disciplinary action was taken against him.”
Bareilly Division Commissioner Saumya Agarwal has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
According to Lodhi, he and a few villagers had gone to the SDM office to complain about alleged encroachment on land in a cremation ground adjacent to a temple in the village, but the officer got angry and insulted them. Lodhi alleged that Pawar subsequently told him, “murga bano.”
Pawar said, “When I entered the office… I saw a man sitting in that posture. I asked others to make him stand on his feet, but his friends made videos.”
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