UP CM suspends IAS officer for molesting girl on train

Within hours of the newsbreak about an IAS officer's indulgence in molestation of a young girl, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav ordered his immediate suspension in Lucknow on Monday.

The officer was charged of "physically misbehaving" with a 25- year old girl while traveling in an AC coach of the New Delhi-Lucknow Mail on Sunday night.

A case under section 354 of the IPC (assault or criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) was registered earlier this morning with the Government Railway Police police station after the train reached Lucknow railway station on Monday morning.

The 35-year old bureaucrat, Shashi Bhushan Lal Sushil, was posted as special secretary (technical education). He belonged to the 2002 batch of the elite Indian Administrative Service and was posted as the district magistrate of Bulandshahr during the Mayawati regime.

He tried to throw his weight around when the Railway Protection Force intervened in the matter after the girl and his mother approached cops accompanying the train.

It was only following intervention of fellow passengers that the RPF took him into custody and handed him over to the GRP at Lucknow.

However, no sooner than the news hit the headlines, Akhilesh Yadav took serious note of the incident. And even though the officer was trying to cook up some alibi by accusing the girl of using foul language, the chief minister ordered stern action against him.

Confirming the action, chief secretary Alok Ranjan told Rediff.com, "The IAS officer has been placed under suspension and an inquiry ordered against him."