The mother of a slain Mathura police officer on Friday rejected the compensation offered her by the Uttar Pradesh government, after her son was killed in clashes with encroachers on Thursday.
Her son, Superintendent of Police Mukul Dwivedi, was killed on Thursday after the police and protesters clashed during a drive to evict illegal occupants from a park in Mathura district. As many as 24 people, including two policemen were killed in the violence; 23 police personnel have been hospitalized and many of them have suffered bullet injuries.
The state government announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 20 lakh each for the families of the two policemen who were killed. Aside from Dwivedi, Station House Officer Santosh Yadav was also killed.
“I don’t want money. The chief minister should bring back my son. The chief minister can take Rs 20 lakh from us, but please bring back my son. They sent my son to Mathura so that he gets killed.
What will I do now? I have two sons, one is in Dubai. Before he was in Bareilly, but he was promoted to Mathura,” Dwivedi’s mother said.
Violence erupted on Thursday evening when police were trying to evict illegal occupants, believed to be from a group called Swadheen Bharat Subhash Sena, from a park called Jawahar Bagh, on the direction of the Allahabad high court.
“About 22 rioters were killed in the violence. These include 11 persons who were killed in a fire started by the agitators,” said UP’s Director General of Police (DGP) Javed Ahmed. He added there was “unprovoked” firing by encroachers, who pelted stones.