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Opposition closes ranks, targets state govt over law and order
The Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress on Monday joined hands to assail the government in the Vidhan Parishad over the allegedly
The Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress on Monday joined hands to assail the government in the Vidhan Parishad over the allegedly ‘deteriorating’ law and order situation in the state.
They demanded a discussion on a privilege motion moved by them and staged a walkout after the discussion was not allowed.
The state government, however, cited figures claiming a sharp decline in incidents of crime, including rape and murder, after it came to power in March 2017.
Moving the privilege motion, SP members Ahmad Hasan (leader of opposition), Balram Yadav, Anand Bhadoriya, Sunil Singh ‘Sajan’ Sanjay Pal Kashyap, Parvez Ali, Leelavati Kushwaha and others said the law and order situation had gone from bad to worse in the state since the BJP government came to power. They alleged that incidents of crime, especially rape, had increased manifold with the police having lost all control over criminals.
They even quoted recent rape incidents, including one in which a girl was allegedly abducted and raped in the Gorakhnath area of Gorakhpur on February 13. They said the police had taken no action against the two accused named in the FIR.
Bahujan Samaj Party’s Dinesh Chandra, Atar Singh, Suresh Kumar Kashyap, Bheemrao Ambedkar and others raised the issue of atrocities on Dalits, citing the incident in which members of a Dalit family, including women, were allegedly beaten up and their house was set afire at Mangta village in Ramabainagar district on February 13.
Congress’s Deepak Singh said that on the one had there was a flood of crimes in the state, on the other hand the government harassed media persons and booked them under fake cases for exposing crimes.
In his reply, leader of the house and deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma said the allegations were baseless.
He said the government had taken prompt action against the accused in all the cases cited in the House. He claimed that there had been a sharp decline in crimes.
“Compared to 2017, the cases of dacoity have declined by 59%, loot by 47%, murder by 22%, road hold-ups by 100%, kidnapping by 37%, rape by 38% and SC-ST crimes by 25%,” he said.
