FIR against poll officials after SC woman’s name is deleted from voters’ list

The police have booked a total of eight people, including three named and five unnamed suspects, in the FIR

The Gautam Budh Nagar police have registered an FIR against three administrative officials who were on election duty during the state assembly elections held in February 2022 for allegedly removing the name of the woman belonging to the schedule caste from the electoral list.

An order was passed on Monday by the special judge (SC/ST Act) of the Gautam Budh Nagar court directing the Dankaur police station to register an FIR in the case.

The complainant, a resident of Roshanpura village in Dankaur, has alleged that the officials deleted her name as she belonged to the SC/ST category.

The police have booked a total of eight people, including three named and five unnamed suspects, in the FIR.

The three named suspects are Rajni Kant, subdivisional magistrate (Sadar) at the time of the incident and is currently the officer on special duty (land) at Greater Noida authority, and revenue officers Vinay Kumar Bhadauria and Akhilesh Singh, who are posted in Gautam Budh Nagar.

On May 27, 2022, the 35-year-old complainant moved the Gautam Budh Nagar district court to order the station house officer of Dankaur police station to register an FIR against the above-mentioned suspects under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and investigate the matter.

“While preparing the voters’ list ahead of the assembly elections held in 2022, the names of the dead as well as temporary residents who shifted their residences and duplicate voters were to be removed from the list. However, I’m a native of Roshanpur village and alive. Moreover, I have been using my right to vote for the past three years. Due to caste enmity , the officials deleted my name from the list,” the complainant said.

An order was passed on Monday by the special judge (SC/ST Act) of the Gautam Budh Nagar court directing the Dankaur police station to register an FIR in the case.

“The suspects have been booked under sections of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy, using forged document, forgery for purpose of cheating of the Indian Penal Code and other relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. An inquiry into the matter is being headed by the assistant commissioner of police-3, Greater Noida,” the police said in a press release.

The three named suspects Rajni Kant, Vinay Kumar Bhadauria and Akhilesh Singh did not respond to calls and messages seeking their comment on the matter.