A former councillor and British magistrate who posted a photo on Twitter of himself holding an AK-47 rifle has been stripped of his role, according to BBC News.
A probe by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office found that Ajit Atwal had “brought disrepute to the magistracy” by being photographed with the rifle during a visit to India.
Atwal, originally from Punjab, was photographed with the rifle while he was on holiday in India last year, BBC reported.
Atwal apologized for the photograph but was still suspended as a magistrate.
A spokesperson for JCIO said, “Mr Ajit Singh Atwal JP, a Magistrate assigned to the Derbyshire Bench, uploaded photographs of himself holding an automatic weapon, which is illegal in the UK, on his Twitter account”.
“The photographs were deemed by a conduct panel to have brought the magistracy into disrepute. The Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice concluded that this behaviour amounted to serious misconduct and have removed Mr Atwal from the magistracy.”
Atwal has not yet commented on the matter.