Days after fining an MLA for allegedly breaking COVID-19 protocols, a police sub-inspector in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, was transferred, fuelling allegations that he was penalized for acting against a sitting legislator.
Last Sunday, a video of Roorkee MLA Pradeep Batra throwing money at a police sub-inspector who had fined him and walking away went viral on social media.
Despite the Mussoorie lockdown, the MLA was stopped for not wearing a mask correctly and wandering around with his family.
According to Mussoorie Circle Officer Narendra Pant, the sub-inspector, Neerak Kathait, was transferred to Kalsi, some 40 kilometres from Dehradun, on Thursday.
The sub-inspector can be heard in the video reprimanding the MLA for breaking COVID-19 standards, whom he obviously did not recognise. He is also overheard suggesting that Mr Batra will be fined 500 rupees.
The MLA is then seen tossing the money at the officer, enraged.
As word of the officer’s transfer spread, locals rallied to his defense, claiming that he was being punished for performing his job.
The Mussoorie Traders Association (MTA) even wrote to Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat, pleading with him to intervene and stop the transfer of the SI.
“The legislator broke the law. The sub-inspector took action and should be praised for what he did instead of being punished,” MTA president Rajat Aggarwal said.
Gaurav Agarwalla, the Congress’s Mussoorie unit president, has asked the state government to reverse Kathait’s transfer and warned of an agitation.
Kathait had already spent three years in Mussoorie, according to Circle Officer Pant, and his transfer was due.
