By IANS,
Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Sunday sacked Minister of State for Fisheries Jamuna Nishad following the shooting of a constable during a ruckus he and his supporters created at a Maharajganj district police station over the alleged rape of two Dalit girls.
Mayawati told reporters here Sunday that a compensation of Rs.1 million will be given to the family of constable Krishnanand Rai, who was shot. Also, the two Dalit girls will be given Rs.500,000 each.
The chief minister also ordered a magisterial inquiry into the entire incident, including the alleged rape of the two Dalit girls.
Inspector General of Police of the Gorakhpur range G.P. Sharma told IANS the minister and his supporters came to the police station late Saturday night to protest the degree of punishment to the alleged rapists.
During the melee at the police station, one of the minister’s supporters opened fire, injuring a constable, who later died of the gun-shot wounds at a hospital.
According to the police, Nishad and his supporters were agitated over the police treatment of the men who were alleged to have raped two Dalit girls Friday.
But the girls’ medical examination did not confirm the charge. Later, the police booked the alleged rapists on charges of eve-teasing.
“The mob came looking for our station in-charge, Inspector V.P. Chaudhary, who was out on patrol. They then started misbehaving with the force present here,” said home guard Ramagya Prasad.
As police reinforcements started to rush in, the mob gradually began to thin out but before that someone from among the minister’s supporters started firing, injuring police constable Krishnanand Rai.
Rai was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. Maharajganj Superintendent of Police Prashant Kumar said the constable’s body was being sent to his town Mau.
“An FIR (first information report) under section 302 for murder and other sections of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against the minister, a man Shailendra Madheshi, husband of the gram pradhan of Rampur Buzurg village, and 50 of his supporters,” Chaudhary told IANS by phone.