Departmental inquiry after UP police station locks main gate

A departmental inquiry has been ordered after a police station in this Uttar Pradesh district locked its main gate.

"A departmental inquiry has been ordered to fix responsibility," said SSP Umesh Kumar.

The Gulaothi police station of Bulandshahr district in western Uttar Pradesh, about 50 km from Delhi, chained its main entrance and locked it, thereby keeping the police station out of bounds for the public throughout Friday night.

The officer claimed the police station is short of staff with one clerk looking after both security and clerical work.

Preliminary inquiry revealed that Friday night following power outage after 1.00 a.m., an inmate was feeling intense heat inside the lockup cell due to rising temperature.

So, the clerk decided to allow the inmate out of the cell. However, he locked the main entrance to prevent the inmate from escaping.

The clerk took the decision without consulting any senior officer.

However, an electricity department officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, refuted the load-shedding claim of the police and said power shut down was only till midnight.