Images of a police officer in Uttar Pradesh smashing the worn out typewriter used by a senior citizen to earn a livelihood on the roadside have gone viral on social media, prompting chief minister Akhilesh Yadav to order the suspension of the official.
Sub-inspector Pradeep Kumar was seen in photos widely shared on social media kicking and smashing the typewriter that was the only source of income for 65-year-old Krishna Kumar in Lucknow.
“I have been sitting outside the GPO for 35 years with my typewriter, he (the policeman) just came, started abusing (me) and broke my typewriter,” Kumar told ANI.
Reports said that the policeman smashed the typewriter because Kumar had failed to meet his alleged extortion demands.
Yadav directed the district magistrate to locate the elderly man and provide him “all possible help”. An officer said later: “The chief minister is very angry at the manner in which the cop treated the elderly man.”
The district magistrate and senior superintendent of police located the victim’s residence and two typewriters (with English and Hindi typeface) were given to him late in the night.
Kumar said the officials had assured him that “there will be no problem in future”. He has been working daily on the pavement outside the General Post Office for more than eight hours a day, typing matter in Hindi for people on his old typewriter to eke out a meagre living. (Agencies)