Bijnor court murder, crime against women rock both houses of UP legislature

Noisy scenes were witnessed in both houses of the state legislature on Wednesday as the Opposition parties criticised the state government over the law and order

Noisy scenes were witnessed in both houses of the state legislature on Wednesday as the Opposition parties criticised the state government over the law and order situation, particularly a spurt in crime against women and the killing of an undertrial in a court in Bijnor on Tuesday.

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Speaking in the state assembly during zero hour, Samajwadi Party legislature party leader Ram Gobind Chaudhary said law and order had collapsed in the state where women were being raped and set ablaze in various districts.

International human right agencies had described UP as the number one state in the country in terms of crime against women, he said.

He said the assembly should be dissolved and a new government should be elected to provide security to the people.

During a recent hearing, the Supreme Court had observed that jungle raj prevailed in UP, Chaudhary said.

He also said the United States and several European countries had issued advisory to women tourists to avoid visiting Uttar Pradesh.

When the SP and the BSP ran governments in UP, neither foreign nations issued any such advisory nor the apex court criticised the state government’s functioning, he said.

Chaudhary said the state of affairs under BJP rule could be gauged from the fact that 86 cases of rape were reported within 11 months in Unnao district.

The killing of an undertrial in a Bijnor court clearly showed that criminal elements were having a free run in the state, he said.

BSP legislature party leader Lalji Verma said the killing of an under trial in the court of the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) in Bijnor clearly showed that criminals were committing crimes at will in the state, he said.

State Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu girls and women are being set ablaze or hanged in the state. To draw the state government’s attention to their plight, women are forced to set themselves afire, he said, adding that Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s letters had forced the state government to take action against criminals.

In reply, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said the state government had constituted a special investigation team (SIT) in the Unnao case and five persons were arrested.

The SIT was probing in the Mainpuri case as well and DNA samples of the accused had been sent to a laboratory, he said.

Terming the killing in the Bijnor court as unfortunate, the chief minister said the state government had prepared a plan for security of courts across the state.

Once the high court approved the proposal, the security plan will be implemented, he said.

Expressing dissatisfaction with the CM’s reply, the SP, BSP and Congress MLAs rushed into the well of the house and shouted slogans against the state government.

Speaker Hriday Narayan Dikshit adjourned the house for the day.

Besides, a major chunk of question hour could not be held in the state assembly due to a din over the Bijnor and other incidents .

Minister for labour and employment Swami Prasad Maurya said the opposition did not have an issue to discuss and so was not allowing the question hour in the house.

In the Vidhan Parishad, the Opposition raised the law and order issue, especially an ‘increasing’ number of atrocities against women in Uttar Pradesh.

They also raised the issue of cane farmers and staged a walkout.

The question hour was lost to din for the second consecutive day on Wednesday.

Leader of Opposition Ahmad Hasan (SP) demanded that the chair suspend the question hour and allow a debate on murders in the court premises in Agra earlier and in Bijnor on Tuesday. However, presiding officer Om Prakash Sharma rejected the demand.

SP and BSP members started shouting slogans and trooped into the well, after which the presiding officer adjourned the house for 15 minutes.

The Opposition members again resorted to slogan-shouting when the House reassembled, forcing another adjournment till noon.

During the adjournment motion that followed the question hour, the SP, the Congress and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) raised the issue of a ‘growing’ number of crimes against women in the state.

In his reply, leader of the house and deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma reply said the government acted promptly whenever crimes against women were reported. He enumerated measures taken by the government for women safety and cited figures claiming that crime in UP had dipped.

SP members staged a walkout from the House with the Congress following them while the BSP members chose not to join the walkout.

Later, SP, Congress and BSP members said cane farmers were not being paid their arrears and neither was the cane price increased. Cane minister Suresh Rana claimed over Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billin) dues were paid in 30 months which, he said, was a record.

The minister’s remark that eight running sugar mills were closed down between 2012-2017 irked SP members who claimed not a single sugar mill was closed when their party was in power.

They staged a walkout as the minister read out names of sugar mills shut during the SP regime.