Reporter booked in salt-roti video case in UP school gets clean chit

A journalist who was booked for allegedly circulating a video of children being served salt and roti (chappatis) in mid-day meal in a primary school at Shiur in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh in August, has been given a clean chit after a probe, a police officer said Wednesday.

The officer said the case diary was prepared on December 8.

Salt and roti was served to children at the school in Shiur in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh on August 22, the police officer said. The matter came to light when a video went viral on social media.

The case was registered against journalist Pawan Jaiswal and Rajkumar Pal, the representative of village head of Hinauta village in the same district on August 31, just over a week after the video went viral.

The two men were booked under IPC sections 186 (voluntarily obstructing public servant in discharge of his function), 193 (false evidence), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating).

A three-month probe exonerated Jaiswal, but found the allegations against Pal to be true, according to the case diary.

“After thorough investigation and statements of the witnesses, the allegation has been found to be true against the accused Rajkumar Pal, while it has been found that journalist Pawan Jaiswal has no involvement in the matter,” the case diary reads.

The video and news reports of the children being served roti and salt sparked outrage and led to the government suspending the headmaster