18 police personnel suspended after murder accused killed in UP courtroom firing

Lucknow: As many as 18 personnel including a sub-inspector of a police outpost have been suspended in connection with Tuesday's firing in a courtroom in Bijnor which led to the death of a murder accused, officials said on Wednesday.

Apart from the sub-inspector, the 17 other suspended personnel are in the rank of constable, with five of them women.

All of them were attached to the police outpost 'Jajji', located inside the court premises.

On Tuesday, assailants opened fire in a courtroom in Bijnor, killing a murder accused and injuring two policemen.

Another murder accused took advantage of the commotion and managed to escape from the spot.

"Eighteen police personnel, including a sub-inspector, of a police outpost have been suspended for laxity in connection with yesterday's firing in Bijnor courtroom. The rest of the 17 are constables. This includes 12 male constables and five female constables," Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said in a statement.

While recommending their suspension, Circle Officer (City) Arun Kumar Singh wrote a letter to Bijnor Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Tyagi, saying, "It is expected from the police personnel on duty that they should allow any person to enter the court premises only after proper checking and frisking."

"Though the job of checking and frisking is quite challenging, as it has led to disputes between the police and advocates in the past, and a case has been registered. But, even then, the police personnel deployed in the security of the court are expected to discharge their duty with full dedication. However, this was not done, and as a result of which, the incident took place," Singh said.

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in the court premises in Muzaffarnagar in view of the firing incident in the Bijnor court.

Every person entering the court premises, except the staff and lawyers, are being physically checked.

The Muzaffarnagar court had witnessed a similar incident in 2015, when an armed man entered the courtroom masquerading as a lawyer and shot dead Vicky Tyagi, an alleged gangster.

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