Last rites of officer shot for demolition drive in Kasauli

The last rites of Assistant Town and Country Planning officer Shail Bala Sharma, who was allegedly shot dead by the owner of a hotel on Tuesday in Kasauli, was performed at her village Barin in Mandi yesterday.


The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the authorities for their failure to ensure the safety of government officials after the woman officer was shot dead when she had gone to supervise the demolition of unauthorised constructions, dubbing it a "brazen act".


"We might stop passing any orders if you are going to kill people," a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said after the matter was mentioned before it.


It also asked the state government why the police could not stop the alleged assailant from fleeing the spot after shooting the officer.


Assistant town and country planner Shail Bala Sharma had on Tuesday gone to supervise the demolition of unauthorised construction at Kasauli's Narayani Guest House where its owner Vijay Singh allegedly shot at her. She later succumbed to injuries.


Dubbing the incident as "extremely serious", the top court pulled up the authorities for their failure to ensure safety of officials and said it was quite clear that there was "absolutely no regard" for the rule of law as the public servants had gone there to do their work as per the directions passed by the apex court.