Kanwariyas-Muharram mourners face-off in UP: SHO among 2 cops suspended

Pilibhit (UP): A day after a group of kanwariyas came face-to-face with those taking out a Muharram procession on the Bareilly highway, two police officers, including an SHO, were suspended on Sunday for "dereliction of duty".

"After an initial probe, station house officer (SHO) of Jahanabad police station Praveen Kumar and police outpost in-charge Aditya Singh were suspended on the grounds of dereliction of duty. Additional Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar Yadav has been asked to probe the incident," Superintendent of Police Atul Sharma told reporters here.

Earlier, on the basis of a report filed by Singh, now suspended, a case was registered against 125 unknown persons under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Criminal Law Amendment (CLA) Act, police said.

A group of kanwariyas on Saturday had come face-to-face with those taking out a Muharram procession on the Bareilly highway but a timely intervention by the police averted any major incident.

Stones were also pelted towards the police, in which Circle Officer (Sadar) Prateek Dahiya got injured.

"I was slightly hit by an object. I don't know whether it was a stone or something else," Dahiya had said.