Himachal government suspends SI for misbehaving with Congress MLA, CM informs Assembly

Shimla, February 26

The Himachal Pradesh government has suspended a sub-inspector of police for misbehaving with a Congress MLA, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur informed the state Assembly here on Saturday.

Replying to the issue raised by Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri, Thakur, who also holds the charge of the home department, said Sub-Inspector Pawan Banyal has been suspended for misbehaving with Kasumpti MLA Anirudh Singh on February 22.

He said the incident took place when Singh was returning home from Chandigarh.

The chief minister informed the House that there was a massive traffic jam at the Victory Tunnel near the Old Bus Stand in Shimla and Banyal was managing traffic.

According to the MLA’s complaint, he saw the SI misbehaving with the drivers of other vehicles and objected to it.

At this, the SI asked him rudely to leave the spot, to which he objected and told the SI to behave properly as he is a public representative. To this, the SI said he did not know him and he had seen many MLAs and chief ministers and did not care about it, the complaint stated.

The MLA filed the complaint with the Shimla superintendent of police, who sent Banyal to the police lines and ordered an inquiry, which was conducted by an ASP.

This is a serious issue as misbehaviour with a public representative will not be tolerated at any cost and the police official has now been suspended, the chief minister informed the House.

Speaker Vipin Singh Parmar said the privilege notice has been forwarded to Principal Secretary, Home and the Assembly secretary for further action.

Earlier, raising the issue, Agnihotri said the SI misbehaved with an MLA in a state that attracts a huge number of tourists where police are not supposed to behave in such a manner even with an ordinary person.

Seeking strict action against the responsible policeman, he said some other MLAs had also faced such misbehaviour in the past. — PTI