No responsible person should give wrong figures: UP DGP on Akhilesh Yadav’s claim on SHOs

The Uttar Pradesh Police has termed as baseless Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s allegations about the dominance of Kshatriyas in the posting of station house officers (SHOs) in some districts of the state. Responsible people should not confuse people with misleading facts, the police said.

The Samajwadi Party chief had alleged recently that Kshatriyas were posted as SHOs in a majority of police stations in Agra, Mainpuri and Chitrakoot districts.

Rejecting the allegation, Uttar Pradesh director general of police Prashant Kumar said to the media on Monday, “The appointments of SHO are being done as per government orders. There has been some news on social media, which is wrongly quoting the number of SHOs, which is totally wrong. Clarifications have been given by the related districts and no responsible person should give wrong figures. They should refrain from giving misleading facts. All the units have been informed to confront misleading facts in the prescribed way on social media (with) correct figures. I don’t want to comment on political statements.”

During his Agra visit on Saturday to meet Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Ramji Lal Suman, Akhilesh Yadav had alleged that in most of the police stations of Agra, the SHOs belonged to the ‘Singh’ (Kshatriya) caste and the SHOs from the PDA (Pichda Dalit Alpsankhyak) were in a minority.

“In Agra, there are a total of 48 SHOs posted in various police stations, out of which 15 are PDA and the rest are ‘Singh Bhai Log’ (Kshatriyas). Whereas in Mainpuri, out of a total of 15 station officers, there are three PDA and 10 ‘Singh Bhai Log’. Similarly, in Chitrakoot, out of a total of 10 station officers, there are two PDA and five ‘Singh Bhai Log’. In Mahoba, out of 11 (station officers), there are three PDA and six ‘Singh Bhai Log’,” the SP chief had stated.

Meanwhile, in a post about PDA people in the police force in the state, the SP chief had termed it as “proportional injustice”.

In another post on his official X account on Monday, he also wrote: “90% PDA has only 25% representation in Prayagraj Police. This is the ‘proportional injustice’ being done to the PDA.”

He also posted a chart showing that there were 11 SHOs from PDA community along with 11 Kshatriyas and 19 from other general castes out of the total 44 police stations in Prayagraj.

In the post by the SP chief, the data was attributed to UP Police website.

Replying to these allegations, the Agra Police Commissionerate, without taking the name of the SP chief, had posted on X late on Sunday night, “Agra district, certain social media sites, handlers, micro blogging sites are presenting misleading facts about the appointment of SHO.”

The post further added, “In this regard, it is to be informed that the rules for appointment of SHO are being followed strictly as per the instructions of the government. In the Agra Commissionerate, 39% OBC cadre, 19% SC cadre and 42% police station in-charges of general cadre are appointed, whereas as per the government order, 27% of OBC cadre should be appointed. It is expected from the responsible people of the society/social media sites/micro blogging sites that they should not confuse people with misleading facts, but provide information with correct facts.”

Similar posts were also done by Mainpuri and Chitrakoot police giving the caste-wise data of the SHOs posted in their various police stations. Mainpuri police clarified that around 50% SHO postings were from the general category while 31% OBC and 19% Scheduled Caste SHOs were posted. The X handle of Chitrakoot police also clarified that seven SHOs in the district were from the general category while three were from OBC and two were from SC category. The X accounts of the police also clarified that postings were done as per the government orders.