UP cop who complained about mess food goes to HC against his transfer

The high court has sought response from the state government and the UP Police, who have been made party in the case, and directed the respondents to reply within four weeks.

Lucknow: The UP Police constable, Manoj Kumar, who got transferred to Ghazipur district from Firozabad, after he had highlighted ‘sub-standard’ quality food served at the staff mess in Firozabad police lines, has now filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court over his transfer.

The high court has sought response from the state government and the UP Police, who have been made party in the case, and directed the respondents to reply within four weeks.

The constable, who has joined duty in Ghazipur, has alleged that his transfer was done as an ‘apparent punishment’ for highlighting the issue of sub-standard food being served to policemen.

However, the orders issued by the office of the DGP on September 20 did not mention any reason for the transfer.

Meanwhile, citing the poor health condition of his parents, Manoj had appealed to senior officials for cancellation of his transfer order since Ghazipur is ‘far from my native place in Aligarh district’. However, there was no action on his appeal, he said.

Manoj, who joined the UP Police in 2018, said, “My parents are old and undergoing treatment. It will be very difficult for me to take care of them by staying on duty over 600 km away.” Manoj also informed that he was the only earning member in the family of six, that includes two younger brothers and an unmarried sister.

Earlier, the constable was sent on a ‘long leave’ after videos of him highlighting his plight outside the police lines with tears in his eyes and a plate of food served at the mess went viral. He was captured on video by a bystander saying, “Cops are eating this sub-standard food after 12 hours of duty. Even a dog will not eat this. How can we work if we do not get proper food?”

After the video went viral on social media, Firozabad police in a tweet stated that Kumar had faced ‘disciplinary action on 15 occasions’ in the past few years for various reasons, from being absent to ‘indiscipline and negligence’.

Thereafter, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ashish Tiwari had ordered a probe into the entire matter.

Heeralal Kanaujia, the DSP, who conducted the probe, said, “The constable had not filed any formal complaint. During investigation, the quality of food prepared at the mess was found suitable. The allegations made by the constable were baseless. The only valid objection was that he was not getting hot food due to a mismatch between his duty hours and time when food was prepared at the mess.