New Delhi: The Station House Officer of Jahangiripuri Poice Station has been transferred weeks after a communal clash broke out in the area following a religious procession on Hanuman Jayanti, officials said on Monday.
A senior police officer termed it as part a routine order.
The outgoing SHO had already submitted an application three months ago stating he did not wish to continue as the Station House Officer anymore and had sought a transfer, the officer said.
According to an official order, Inspector Arun Kumar was transferred from R P Bhawan and posted as SHO Jahangirpuri Police Station (Northwest district) with immediate effect.
“He should be relieved at once with the direction to join his new assignment and report compliance to this Headquarters,” the order dated May 6 said.
“It is routine order issued from the office of the Commissioner of Police,” a senior police officer said when asked about the transfer.
Hindu and Muslim groups clashed during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in Jahangirpuri on April 16, leaving eight police personnel and a local injured.
According to the police, there was pelting of stones and arson during the clashes and some vehicles were also torched.
A case was registered in the matter which was then transferred to the Crime Branch unit of Delhi Police.
So far, the Delhi Police has nabbed 36 people, including three juveniles in the case.
Meanwhile, a Delhi court has observed that there was “utter failure” on the part of Delhi Police in stopping the unauthorised Hanuman Jayanti procession in Jahangirpuri last month that triggered communal clashes in the locality.
The court made the observation while rejecting a clutch of bail pleas, and said that the issue seems to have been simply brushed aside by senior officers, and complicity, if any, of police personnel needs to be investigated.
The court said that the sequence of events that took place on Hanuman Jayanti on April 16 and role of the local administration in preventing the incident and maintaining law and order needed to be seen.
