Jungle Bell Jungle Bell Jingle all the way in UP

New Delhi: The law and order situation in UP is perfectly under control, affirms Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. But he is the only one who thinks so, facts flying in the face. The Wall Street Journal has just brought out an e-book on how unsafe are women in UP.     

There seems to be no end to the goonda-raj. The spate of violence on women, and the murdering of political leaders lead one to believe that UP is a fit case for President’s rule. The view is backed by a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Markandey Katju, who is also the Chairman of the Press Council of India: “Is Uttar Pradesh descending into a state of matsya nyaya? The facts certainly indicate in that direction.”

The latest in the catalogue of the crimes is the murder of two police constables on duty who were shot dead on early Monday in Firozabad, which sparked violent protests by the public.

Last week, there have been numerous attacks on BJP leaders in the state, resulting in the murder of three of those leaders. On June 15, police had recovered the dead body of Rakesh Rastogi in a Santro car at the Baheri-Nanital highway.

Rastogi is the third BJP leader to be killed over two weeks in UP. Earlier, BJP leader Vijay Pandit was gunned down in Dadri last week while Muzaffarnagar BJP leader Om Veer Singh was killed on Tuesday. BJP worker Puneet Singhal was shot at in Bulandshahr on Wednesday and was critically injured.

Unidentified gunmen attacked another BJP leader Devendra Sharma’s house in Mathura on Sunday. Sharma’s mother got a gunshot wound while the shooters escaped.

On the same day, an attempt was also made on the life of newly-elected BJP MP Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti allegedly by three persons but she managed to escape unhurt.

Crimes against women in the state have also increased considerably. The Badaun case of minor girls who were allegedly gang-raped and then found hanging from trees invited outrage from across the country, raising a clarion call for Yadav’s resignation.

However, it made little difference and the incident was followed by several identical attacks in the leading days. On June 12, the body of a 19-year-old girl was found hanging from a tree in a village in Moradabad district.

On the same day, the body of a 45-year-old woman was found hanging from a tree in Bahraich in eastern UP. The woman, belonging to the backward caste, was allegedly abducted and gang-raped before being murdered and hung from a tree. 

Then again, a 32-year-old woman was allegedly held captive and gang-raped by three persons, including the son of a policeman, in the Bisauli area of Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district on June 15.

But even though Yadav remains to be under fire for his inability to bring the situation under control, he insists that his state was better than that in many other parts of the country. “Whenever somebody asks me about law and order, I say it is a very important subject and it is the government’s responsibility to ensure that it remains in good condition. It is fine in UP and better than in many other states… That is why investors have come in such large numbers,” he said. 

 This despite an National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report terms the state as the “worst” in India in terms of law and order. The number of violent crimes touched a high of 33,824 incidents in 2012, including nearly 2,000 rapes and 4,966 murders, it suggests. 

Yadav’s indifference towards state of affairs, coupled with an absolute disregard for law enforcement in Uttar Pradesh, not only raises pertinent questions but also makes a strong case for need of a President’s rule in the state.