U.P.: Female cops suspended for taking selfie while guarding acid attack victim

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India] Mar. 25 : Three women constables were suspended yesterday for allegedly taking a selfie in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) while on duty with a gang-rape and acid attack victim who was undergoing treatment in Lucknow's KGMU Hospital.

The victim claimed that she was forced to drink acid by some youths when she was returning to Lucknow by the Ganga-Gomti Express on Thursday.

The selfie of those three constables went viral and the police department had to call for suspension and order a probe.

The incident came to light when the victim got off the train at Charbagh station and gave a written complaint to the government railway police, the officials said.

The woman worked at a coffee shop managed exclusively by acid-attack survivors. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited the victim at King George's Medical University (KGMU) yesterday.

Yogi also gave a cheque of Rs. one lakh as compensation to the victim's husband. He also directed the police officials to immediately nab the accused and initiate strict action against the guilty.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who confirmed the Chief Minister's visit to the KGMU Hospital, attacked the previous Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party regime for not taking appropriate action in the matter.

The Dalit victim was attacked yet again on Thursday by the same group of suspects, marking the fourth such attack on her.

She was gang-raped earlier in 2009 and a case was registered in this regard in Unchahar town of Raebareli district.

She was first acid attacked in 2011 followed by other serious attacks again in 2011, twice in 2012 and another in 2013.

Source: ANI