Hathras DM replaced after High Court reprimand, UP slams New Year's Day

- Yogi government also transferred 15 other IAS officers

New Delhi Dt. 1 January 2020 Friday

Yogi Adityanath's government in Uttar Pradesh has replaced 15 other IAS officers in addition to the Hathras DM after the Allahabad High Court reprimanded the district magistrate in the Hathras case.

In Uttar Pradesh, as in Bihar, the state government made a big change on the first day of the new year. Hathras District Magistrate Praveen Kumar Lashkar was made DM of Mirzapur. Attempts were made to kill a Dalit girl after she was gang-raped on September 14, 2020 while Praveen Kumar was on duty. The girl died on September 29 while undergoing treatment at a Delhi hospital. The police kept her family away from the funeral and conducted the funeral in the middle of the night. The Allahabad High Court had struck down Praveen Kumar. He also slammed the police. The court also sought an answer from Praveen Kumar and the state police as to why the funeral was held at midnight.

Now the Yogi government had removed Praveen Kumar from Hathras and made him the district magistrate of Mirzapur. He was replaced by Ramesh Ranjan, Additional Director General, UP Water Corporation, as District Magistrate, Hathras. Gonda District Magistrate Nitin Bansal, Noida Additional CEO Shruti and Balrampur District Magistrate were also transferred.

A total of 15 IAS transfers were announced overnight. No valid reason was given for this. In the case of Praveen Kumar, the criticism made by the Allahabad High Court was justified. No details or explanation was given by the state government as to why the remaining 15 chartered bureaucrats were transferred. However there was a big difference here. In Bihar, Lipi Singh, daughter of JD (U) president RCP Singh, was given the facility to work as a new SP. No such bias was found in the transfer of UP. The state government only announced the transfer. No further details were released.