UP Police Constable Allegedly Shoots Govt Teacher Dead in Muzaffarnagar After Altercation

Teacher Shot Dead in Muzaffarnagar: In a shocking incident, a government teacher in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar was shot dead allegedly by an UP Police head constable after an altercation broke out between the two on Sunday night. The incident reportedly took place in the Civil Lines area, following which angry teachers from different colleges held a massive protest and blocked the circular road. The protestors demanded strict action against the accused. They even boycotted evaluation work of Uttar Pradesh Board exam answer sheets.

The deceased, identified as Dharmendra Kumar, was part of a team of the education department from Varanasi that had brought UP Board exam answer sheets to the SD Inter College in Muzaffarnagar.

Superintendent of Police (City) Satyanarain Parjapat said, the group included another teacher and two class-four employees and was accompanied by a police team from Varanasi.

Accused cop shot the teacher using his service weapon, says police official

The team from the education department and Varanasi police were waiting in a vehicle for the college gate to open when the incident took place on Sunday night, Parjapat said.

Kumar had an altercation with head constable Chander Prakash while they were in the vehicle, following which the latter shot at the teacher using his service weapon, the officer said.

The injured teacher was rushed to the district hospital where he was declared dead, the SP added.

Reacting to the incident, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that the "arrogance of the BJP rule" has slowly started to affect the administration as well, and demanded that a compensation of Rs 5 crore should be paid to the family members of the deceased teacher.

Meanwhile, teachers from different colleges blocked the circular road in protest over the incident.

According to the protesters, the policeman was under the influence of liquor and the argument broke out between the duo when he demanded tobacco from the teacher.

In a memorandum addressed to the state government, the protesting teachers have demanded at least Rs 10 crore compensation for the deceased's family and job to a family member.

They also warned that their dharna will continue until strict action is taken against the accused and demanded a written assurance by the district authorities.

The teachers have also begun a boycott of the evaluation of answer sheets of UP Board exams.

The teacher's body has been sent for postmortem and a case has been registered against the head constable, SP Parjapat said, adding all others present in the vehicle have been taken into custody for questioning.

Akhilesh Yadav hits out at state government

Meanwhile, SP chief Yadav, in a post on X in Hindi, said, "The arrogance of the BJP rule is slowly beginning to affect the administration as well. Earlier also a 'sipahi' had killed people and today again. The BJP government, which organises fake encounters, has even made some people in the police system violent." "A compensation of Rs 5 crore should be given to the family of the deceased teacher and the accused policeman should be punished for his actions. If there is any education minister in Uttar Pradesh, she should also wake up!" he said.

Meanwhile, in Kaushambi district, teachers apparently angry over the Muzaffarnagar incident, boycotted the evaluation work of UP Board exam copies and also blocked the Prayagraj-Chitrakoot road for an hour.

District Inspector of Schools Sachchidanand Yadav said that the work of evaluation of board exam copies was going on in Durga Devi Inter College of Manjhanpur tehsil of the district. The teachers engaged in the evaluation work got angry over the murder of the teacher (in Muzaffarnagar) and boycotted the evaluation of copies, he said.

Manjhanpur Sub-Divisional Magistrate Akash Singh reached the spot and spoke to the protesting teachers.

A memorandum was submitted to the SDM, demanding strong action against head constable Chander Prakash and financial assistance to the family of the deceased teacher and a government job to a family member.