That politics has the upper-hand over the law in Uttar Pradesh was proved yet again yesterday when a policeman was booked for doing his duty while the offender went scot free.Never mind that the offender —Rakesh Singh, the son of Samajwadi Party’s Rajya Sabha member and former minister Bhagwati Singh — was about to breach former prime minister A.B. Vajpayee’s security by barging into his cavalcade, and that Sub-Inspector Satyendra Singh was just trying to stop him.Now, the 30-yr-old SI has been suspended, with a criminal case registered against him at the same police post where he serves as the in-charge.SP City (East) R.K.S. Rathore, who issued the suspension order today, said: ‘‘He misbehaved with a reputed person and created an unneccesary ruckus.’’But Singh, fearing arrest any moment, pleads he was only doing his duty.The trouble started yesterday at 11 am, when Vajpayee’s cavalcade was headed from the Raj Bhawan for the Science Convention Centre. Singh, the in-charge of the River Bank police post, was at the Daliganj bridge, holding back traffic to allow the cavalcade to pass. But just as the vanguard passed, the MP’s son tried to cross the bridge in his Maruti.‘‘I told him to wait. But he was not ready to listen. ‘Hum kya koi VVIP se kam hain kya,’ he said, and started to threaten me, dropping names of his political connections. I stood in front of his car as the cavalcade passed. He would have otherwise caused a security breach and landed himself as well as the concerned policemen in a soup,’’ Singh told Express.Singh then asked Rakesh to produce his vehicle documents. ‘‘He told me he would not hand them over even if he had them,’’ said Singh. ‘‘As I told him that his car would have to be seized, he lay down on the road in protest, creating a traffic jam. So I got him to sit in the car and drove it to the Wazirganj police station. There, he refused to sign the challan,’’ he added.Soon after, hoardes of SP MLAs, including Jhinga Babu and Rajendra Yadav, the government’s financial advisor Banwari Lal Kanchal, SP Mahasachiv Vijay Singh Yadav and even some student leaders from Lucknow University landed at the police station to protest. They broke the furniture, demanding the immediate release of Rajesh. Another SI said today that he was assaulted by the party workers.After three hours, SP City (East) Rathore issued his orders: A criminal case on charges of causing injury and criminal intimidation against the SI. And Rakesh Singh was released.Said Rathore: ‘‘We have released his car which was seized. Prima-facie, the policeman misbehaved, he should have handled the situation better. Rakesh Singh was in no way entering the cavalcade.’’Denying any political pressure, SSP (Lucknow) Navniet Sekera said: “How could he seize the car? He was there on VIP duty and not for checking vehicle documents. The SI took the issue personally and misbehaved.”Alleged Rakesh: ‘‘The SI pulled me out of my car, tore off my kurta and held me at gun-point before bundling me to the police station and assaulting me like I was a petty criminal. Now he knows how to treat reputed people.’’In his defence, SI Singh said: ‘‘If it was someone other than a ruling party MP’s son, he would have been behind bars for obstructing a public servant from discharging his duty.’’
