A day after an eight-year-old was killed in celebratory firing after local elections, the Uttar Pradesh government Monday removed the Sub Divisional Magistrate and Deputy Superintendent of Police of Shamli, and issued a showcause notice to Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Kairana MLA Nahid Hasan for allegedly misbehaving with a woman journalist and cameraman of Times Now channel.
The journalists had gone to Kairana, in Shamli district of UP, to report the death of Mohammed Sami, who was passing by in an e-rickshaw with his aunt and cousins when he fell victim to a stray bullet fired by SP workers after their candidate’s victory.
In an apparent damage-control move, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav also ordered immediate arrest of all supporters of Nafisa, the newly elected block pramukh, who are seen in TV footage firing in air. The party also expelled Nafisa, and the government has asked district officials to cancel all arms licences in the area.
Sami’s family had on Sunday alleged that the police were mute spectators even as they ran around to have the accused arrested. On Monday, with the SP government staring at huge embarrassment, the police administration got into action. Kairana police registered a case of murder and rioting against five SP workers. Among them is Nafisa’s husband Gayyum Ali.
The police also registered an FIR against MLA Hasan and his supporters based on Times Now cameraman Mukesh Kumar’s complaint. The case has been registered under IPC Sections 147 (rioting), 342 (wrongful confinement), 504 (insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and IT Act. According to Kumar, a mob led by the MLA held the two of them hostage, snatched away his camera and asked him to delete the footage.
‘Cops just stood there’
Besides Gayyum, the FIR on Sunday’s incident also names his elder brother Mumtiaz and three SP workers: Mursaleen, Nafees and Inaam. They have been booked under IPC Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), and 302 (murder). Inspector General (Law and Order) Bhagwan Swaroop said three persons identified as Raqeeb, Sabir and Furqan have been arrested in the case. They were not named in the FIR.
The five named have not been arrested yet, Swaroop added. Kairana Circle Officer N P Singh said arrests will be made soon.
According to a source, the shots were fired in two quick bursts – once before the results and then after the results were announced. “Sami was hit during the first round of firing,” the source said. The incident, locals said, took place in the presence of local policemen and personnel of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), deployed on election duty. Officers refused to divulge the number of personnel deployed at the block.
Sami’s aunt Reshma, who was taking the child and six of his cousins to meet her ailing mother in Shamli town, said Sami was sitting on her lap in the e-rickshaw when they approached the block office around 3.30 pm. “There was a huge crowd outside the office. Suddenly, more than a hundred people rushed out, and supporters began firing indiscriminately,” she said. “One bullet hit Sami. He died, immediately.”
She alleged that the security personnel “just stood there”: “The crowd had stopped the man who had (allegedly) fired the bullet (that felled Sami), but the police allowed him to escape. Even at the police station, they asked us to take his body to the hospital directly.”
The child’s father Ehsan, 38, a daily wage earner in the village, alleged that the police have refused to take action against the real culprits. “We waited outside the police station for hours so that they arrest the accused. But they even registered a case only after the local BSP leader intervened,” he said.
Sami had recently quit school — a private institution — since the family could not afford the fees and had joined the local madrasa.