BJP MLA ‘slaps’ traffic cop for not letting car enter one-way route in Lucknow

lucknow

Updated: Jun 07, 2017 09:46 IST

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA, Shriram Sonkar, allegedly slapped a traffic home guard here on Tuesday for stopping his vehicle from entering a one-way route, the latest incident of highhandedness by a ruling party lawmaker in Uttar Pradesh.

Sonkar’s personal security guard has been arrested. An FIR was registered against unidentified persons for misbehaving with the home guard, Lucknow senior superintendent of police Deepak Kumar said.

The MLA has not been named in the complaint.

The incident happened during the evening rush hour, when home guard Amit Sarin saw a vehicle entering a congested one-way lane leading to the Vidhan Bhawan, sources said.

As entry was blocked, Sarin walked up to the SUV and requested the occupants to take another route.

The Muhammadabad-Gohna MLA refused and said he won’t take a 3km detour to cover a distance of 300 meters, sources said.

When the home guard insisted on the vehicle being driven away, Sonkar slapped him.

“The MLA slapped the home guard for doing his duty,” a commuter said, adding the men accompanying Sonkar got into a scuffle with the traffic police personnel who rushed to the home guard’s rescue.

The MLA continued on the one-way, leading to a traffic jam at the busy Bapu Bhawan crossing.

The BJP, which swept to power in Uttar Pradesh three months ago on the promise of improving law and order situation, is facing criticism over a string of murders and crime in the state.

Some of its MLAs, too, have been caught on the wrong foot.

In April, a video of a party MLA slapping a toll plaza employee had gone viral. A month later, a lawmaker from Gorakhpur, the home turf of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, publically humiliated a senior police officer for stopping his supporters from staging a protest.