UP government transfers 17 IAS officials including Hathras DM

Hathras DM came into focus after the gangrape of a Dalit woman by four upper caste men in September

UP government transferred 17 IAS officials including Hathras District Magistrate Praveen Kumar Laxkar, who was criticized for the way he handled the case of the 19- year- old Dalit woman who was raped by four upper caste men in Hathras on September 14. She died on September 29 while she was undergoing treatment at Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi.

Allahabad High Court had asked Uttar Pradesh government in November to take action against the District Magistrate for the way he had been handling the case and had expressed concern over the fairness regarding the investigation as the victim had been cremated after her death in the middle of the night by the local police.

Mr Kumar will be the new District Magistrate of Mirzapur. He will be replaced by Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam Additional MD Ramesh Ranjan. Other than Mr Kumar, District Magistrate of Gonda, Nitin Bansal has been transferred to Pratapgarh and Additional CEO of Noida, Shruti has become the DM of Balrampur replacing Krishna Karunesh. Karunesh has become vice- chairman of the Ghaziabad Development Authority, a spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that Fatehpur DM Sanjiv Singh has been transferred to Chandauli.