SP MLA who stopped trains not being arrested: Railway police

The Uttar Pradesh Police have failed to arrest a legislator of the ruling Samajwadi Party despite a criminal case against him for disrupting train movement and damaging railway and public property during a protest in Shamli district, railway police officials said on Sunday.

Kairana legislator Nahid Hasan, contacted by IANS for his version, however, said it was just a "political act" and he had lifted the protest after the district magistrate asked him.

"No officer can dare to arrest the MLA who had damaged railway property, injured several police personnel and ransacked public property on May 2 last in Kandhla (town of Shamli," said Railway Protection Force (RPF) officer Anil Kumar.

He said the legislator's actions had also resulted in creating a communal riot-like situation in the already disturbed Shamli district.

Other RPF officers Sub Inspector Ajay Kumar and Assistant Sub Inspector M.Y. Khan also backed the allegations.

According to them, Hasan and about 2,000 of his supporters blocked rail and movement between Kandhla and Rampur Kheri stations for four hours, demanding action against railway officials for a minor incident on the previous day (May 1) due to which some pilgrims suffered.

Hasan and his supporters also destroyed the guard cabin, ransacked the gateman's cabin and vandalised a motorcycle there.

Though senior police, railway and civil administration officers tried to convince Hasan to allow the train and vehicular movement to resume, he did not agree.

As the police sought to disperse the agitators, they started pelting stones due to which over a dozen police personnel sustained injuries.

Finally, police had to resort to firing to disperse the mob in which few unruly demonstrators sustained minor injuries, said the FIR which is in possession of this correspondent.

However, police have not arrested the legislator and others involved more than a week after the incident, the RPF officers complained.