Noida: Govt officials booked for deleting woman's name from electoral roll, subjecting to casteism

Noida, Jan 25 (PTI) Three Uttar Pradesh government officials, including a deputy collector, have been booked allegedly for deliberately deleting the name of a woman from the voter list in Gautam Buddh Nagar ahead of the 2022 state assembly elections, police said on Wednesday.

The FIR has been lodged on the orders of an SC/ST court, which recently heard the complaint of the aggrieved woman, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste. The woman also accused the official of discriminating with her on the basis of her caste.

The 35-year-old woman, a native of Roshanpura village in the district, had moved the court in May last year. The voting for the election was done in February and results were declared in March.

She claimed that her name was deleted from the electoral roll by the officials despite her being a registered voter in previous elections and possessing all required documents.

"My name was deliberately deleted from the electoral roll by the government officials who misused their power to not allow me to use my constitutional right," the complainant alleged.

Those booked are Rajnikant, a former sub-divisional magistrate (Sadar) and currently the officer on special duty at Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, and revenue officers of Gautam Buddh Nagar Vinay Kumar Bhadauria and Akhilesh Singh.

Besides them, five unidentified persons have been named as accused in the FIR lodged at Dankaur Police Station.

According to Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Greater Noida) Dinesh Kumar Singh, the former returning officer, the tehsildar, and the deputy collector were booked under CrPC 156(3) under which a magistrate may order investigation by police officers to investigate.

"An FIR has accordingly been lodged under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 467, 468 and 471 (all three related to forgery), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 166 (public servant disobeying law, with intent to cause injury to any person) and 167 (public servant framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury)," Singh said.

Charges under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 have also been invoked in the case, the officer said.

"The whole episode is being investigated by the assistant commissioner of police (Greater Noida 3)," he added. PTI KIS VN VN