UP Bus Conductor Sacked For Letting Muslim Passengers Offer Namaz Dies By Suicide

Mohit Yadav, a suspended conductor of the UPSRTC bus at the Bareilly depot, allegedly killed himself on August 26 succumbing to mental and financial stress. A video of his wife, Rinki, pleading innocence of his deceased husband has now gone viral on social media. 

Mohit, who was a conductor in UP Roadways was suspended earlier this year, for allegedly halting a Delhi-bound bus for two passengers to offer Namaz. The UPSRTC staff and his co-driver, a contractual staff, were suspended on June 5 for halting ‘Janrath’, an air-conditioned bus headed to Kaushambi from Bareilly. 

In the video, Rinki says that her husband was innocent and was wrongly suspended over the video. "Mohit was the eldest sibling and the sole breadwinner of the family," she adds. 

The deceased in a testimony had stated that the bus was carrying fewer passengers than usual, 14 to be precise, when two of the Muslim on-boarders requested him to stop by on the way, for them to offer Namaz. The bus had halted once at the request of five passengers, three of whom sought a place to relieve themselves and the two aforementioned Muslim passengers. The Muslim passengers offered their prayers while their co-passengers finished their business, in the Milak area of Rampur district.

However, some on board objected to the driver stopping the bus for the Muslim passengers, and allowing them to offer Namaz. They filmed a framed episode and slammed him for stopping ‘a government-run’ vehicle for the Muslim passengers to offer Namaz. The inconvenienced passengers lodged a complaint with UPSRTC’s regional manager for the Bareilly Zone, Deepak Chaudhary, alleging that the driver stopped the bus in an isolated place at the request of two Muslim passengers who got down to offer Namaz, while causing inconvenience to other passengers. 

The regional manager then directed the assistant regional manager of UPSRTC in Bareilly, Sanjeev Kumar Srivastava, to initiate an inquiry. The inquiry resulted in Krishna Pal Singh and Mohit Yadav’s termination from service. 

“I received a call that an AC bus from Bareilly depot to Delhi has been stopped and some people are offering namaz. A few passengers objected to it. I directed the ARM of UPSRTC, to immediately depart the bus and take stern action. The ARM suspended the driver, who is a permanent staff and the co-driver, who was on contract, his service being terminated,” said UPSRTC regional manager (Bareilly), Deepak Chaudhary.

The regional manager further stated that halting the bus at a secluded place could have borne unpleasant consequences, and indicted Yadav and KP Singh for putting the passenger's lives at risk.

However, the regional secretary, of UP Roadways Employees Union, Ravindra Pandey had termed the act as “one-sided” and demanded further probe into the matter, while allowing the accused a fair chance to present their case. 

“Employees cannot be suspended without a proper probe,” said the association’s president, Hari Mohan. “In such complaints, a committee is formed and action is taken after the panel finds the person guilty. In this case, they were not even given time to explain,” he added, in his statement to TOI. 

Hussain Mansoori, a resident of Ahmedabad, and one of the two Muslim passengers in question, was contacted by The Time Of India at the time for a statement. 

“I had to board a train from Delhi and I reached on time,” Mansoori told TOI. “The bus stopped for other passengers as well, and I am surprised that such an action has been taken to give us time to offer prayers. If required, I will do everything possible to support them.”

Yadav was stern on challenging the suspension order - “We don’t think that they have done anything wrong by offering prayers,” he told IANS.

However, the benevolent driver breathed his last on August 26, 2023. Yadav took his life by leaping in front of a moving train, in his native, Mainpuri, UP. The eldest member and the sole breadwinner of his family, Yadav was in extreme mental and financial stress following his termination at UPSRTC. Yadav’s death has angered the employees of Bareilly Roadways who have now halted all work in protest of the fatal incident. The incident has yet again highlighted the superfluous intersection of a prejudiced religion and ominous politics in the workplace.