Saharanpur clashes: Suspended cop was indicted over Muzaffarnagar riots

SC Dubey, appointed as head of Saharanpur police in April by the Adityanath government, was named by among key people responsible for the Muzaffarnagar riots by a probe panel

A senior police officer suspended on Thursday over deadly caste clashes in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur was previously “held responsible” for the 2013 communal riots in Muzaffarnagar by a judicial committee.

Violence in Saharanpur, West UP, has flared in sporadic instances of rioting and arson since May 5 when Rajput and Dalit communities first fought over a procession. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Subhash Chandra Dubey, suspended as Saharanpur’s senior superintendent of police, headed in 2013 the district police in Muzaffanagar, the epicentre for communal clashes that left more than 60 people dead.

“So far as Subhash Chandra Dubey is concerned, I have already held that the government of UP has prime facie found him responsible for riots; pending inquiry has suspended him and I am in agreement with the view of government of UP,” said the report by Vishnu Kant Sahai.

Sahai is a former Allahabad high court judge who was tasked to investigate the 2013 clashes in Western UP and the role of administration officials.

Dubey was appointed Saharanpur’s senior superintendent of police — the head of police for a district – by the Yogi Adityanath government in April.

Two people have died, scores injured and many houses have been burnt down in the tension that has flared in sporadic instances of rioting and arson.

The Sahai commission was scathing in its criticism of Dubey’s role during the 2013 violence.

After thoroughly scrutinising the role of 40 senior officers, Sahai wrote in his report, “I have come to the conclusion that excepting Subhash Chandra Dubey, all the aforesaid named officers made a strenuous attempt and took effective measures (in fact the effort of some was exemplary) to control communal riots”.

The former judge was responding to second and third terms of reference — instructions from the government — to identify officials and the roles they played in the episode. The government was at the time headed by Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav.

A former bureaucrat said on Thursday that Dubey’s posting suggests chief minister Yogi Adityanath may not be getting correct advice . “This may be because of division of bureaucracy on political lines in the past few years,” said Surya Pratap Singh, who has held a number of positions in the state government’s bureaucracy.