UP govt suspends Bareilly city magistrate for ‘indiscipline’; he stages protest

On Tuesday morning, he staged a brief protest in Bareilly.

In the letter of suspension issued by UP Appointments department late Monday night, Agnihotri has been charged with violating the Uttar Pradesh Government Servant (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1999. Sources said Agnihotri defied these Rules by going public with his resignation and then making allegations against the government before his resignation reached the appropriate authority and was accepted.

During his period of suspension, Agnihotri has been attached to the District Magistrate, Shamli office. The inquiry against him will be carried out under the Divisional Commissioner, Bareilly. Sources in the government said the suspension letter was issued on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.

Sources also said after Agnihotri came out of Bareilly District Magistrate’s office on Monday night, where he alleged he was kept hostage, the officer vacated his official residence.

Posting a photo on social media of him standing outside his residence with a poster that read “#UGC rollback, kala kanoon wapas lo (take back the black law)”, Agnihotri Monday had alleged that the UGC rules would lead to “harassment” of general category students.

It also read “Shankaracharya aur sanaton ka yeh apman nahi sahega Hindustan (India will not tolerate this insult to Shankaracharya and the Sanatan [Hindu] tradition).” It ended with the words ‘boycott BJP’, ‘boycott Brahmin MP MLA’. He went on to allege that “an anti-Brahmin campaign is going on in the Uttar Pradesh government”.

The new rules notified by the UGC on January 13 — the Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations, 2026 — have been criticised by general category students, arguing that the framework could lead to discrimination against them.

The rules mandate all higher education institutions to form ‘equity committees’ to look into discrimination complaints. These committees need to include members of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), persons with disabilities, and women.

There were reports Monday evening of some BJP office-bearers in Noida and Lucknow too resigning in protest over these rules.

The controversy over Saraswati, the “Shankaracharya” or chief of the Jyotirmath in Uttarakhand, was over the UP Police allegedly preventing him from taking a holy dip at the Triveni Sangam on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya on January 18 — the incident has since turned into a political battlefield.

Agnihotri hails from Kanpur. He has a BTech degree from IIT-BHU along with a degree in Law. He served as Additional Municipal Commissioner, Lucknow, from 2003 to 2005. He has also served as Deputy Collector in Etah, Balrampur and Unnao.

(with PTI inputs)