As long as the criminal-neta nexus remains strong in the State, goons will run amok and keep getting away with it, too
Despite the Yogi Adityanath Government’s claims of having “zero tolerance” for criminals, particularly rapists, crimes against women in Uttar Pradesh are on the rise. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures till 2018 show that on an average 12 women/girls were raped in the badlands daily. But going by the reports appearing in the media since the beginning of this year, that number seems to have gone up. Even the pandemic is no deterrent as in March two sisters, aged nine and 10, were raped repeatedly for several days by two men from their village in Mau district. Then a six-year-old girl was kidnapped and raped in Hapur district on August 6. Within a week, on August 14, a 13-year-old girl was raped and killed in Lakhimpur Kheri and on Tuesday the mutilated body of a 17-year-old girl was found in the same district. The teenager, a bright student, who by her father’s own admission “was strong like a boy and would have fought like anything”, was on her way to fill a scholarship form when she was abducted, raped and killed. So much for “Beti bachao, beti padhao.”
The result? Despite all the BJP Government’s tooting of its own horn that criminals are shaking in their boots and have either fled the State, gone underground or got their bails cancelled, they are still running amok. Only the actors and their leanings have changed and the Yadav gangs have been replaced by the Thakur and Jat gangs with some even joining the BJP. What emboldens them even further is the fact that the SHOs at police stations are packed with Thakurs much like they were packed with Yadavs when the Samajwadi Party (SP) was in power. It is no secret that at 37 per cent, the BJP tops the list of the party with the most criminals-turned-netas in the UP Assembly. And that it has been unable to rein in its delinquent politicians is evident from the Kuldeep Sengar and Chinmayanand rape saga. It was only after a national uproar that the UP Government acted against the two Thakur leaders. So, as long as the criminal-neta nexus remains strong in UP, or in any other State, the goons will continue to rape and pillage with impunity and keep getting away with it too. And the beti will continue to suffer silently and more often than not pay for it with her life.
