A video has gone viral in which a man was seen squatting at the SDM’s office in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly. After the video surfaced, the Sub-divisional magistrate of Meerganj tehsil was removed and a probe was ordered.
However, SDM Udit Pawar denied the allegations and said the complainant squatted “on his own”.
The complainant reached the SDM’s office to lodge his complaint about the alleged encroachment of a cremation ground but the official allegedly told him “murga bano (squatting and holding both ears)” as a punishment.
Divisional Commissioner of Bareilly Saumya Agarwal on Saturday said that a probe has been ordered into the incident.
District Magistrate of Bareilly Shivakant Dwivedi informed that prima facie laxity on the part of the SDM Udit Pawar has been found and he has been attached to the district headquarters. Desh Deepak Singh replaced Pawar as Bareilly SDM.
SDM Says Complainant Squatted on His Own
Pawar said the youth who came to his office squatted on his own as he entered his office.
“I did not ask any complainant to squat. The youth who came to my office squatted on his own as he entered my room. His friends took photographs and made videos, and then made those videos viral.” “I assured them that the matter will be probed by the tehsildar, and action will be taken if any encroachment of cremation ground is found,” he added.
Complainant Says SDM Asked Him to Squat as Punishment
The complainant alleged that when he and some villagers asked the SDM to act on the alleged encroachment in Mandanpur village, Pawar got angry and insulted them and then asked one of them to squat as punishment.
Villagers of Mandanpur village said that the cremation ground has been encroached by some Muslims.
The only other alternative to the cremation ground is to perform last rites on the banks of Ramganga river, they said. But since the river is currently in spate, the last rites cannot be performed there too, they added.
On Friday, villagers, including Ramkumar, Puranlal, Dharampal, Gedan Lal and Pappu Lodhi, gave a memorandum to SDM Pawar on the matter, to which they were told that action will be taken on the basis of a report by tehsildar.
Lodhi said that when they complained about the delay in taking any action on the matter, the SDM got angry, asked the villagers to leave the room and told one of them to squat.
(With PTI inputs)
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