Even as the rising incidents of rape and atrocities on dalits in Uttar Pradesh continue to grab headlines, the Mayawati government on Wednesday claimed a 16 per cent decrease in atrocities on dalits and a 17 per cent decrease in rape cases.
“There has been a 16 per cent decrease in cases related to dalit atrocities compared to the previous year and a 17 per cent reduction in rape cases. We are committed to providing a terror-free and crime free society,” said parliamentary affairs minister Lalji Varma in reply to a question on the state’s law and order situation in the state Assembly.
The minister drew loud protests from the Opposition benches when he said that Uttar Pradesh was ranked 34th according to the report of the National Crime Record Bureau. He said that the law and order situation in UP was better compared to 33 states in the country. Mr Shyamdev Roy Choudhury of the BJP said that the BSP had come to power on the issue of law and order and the BSP government had failed to control the same. Mr Hukum Singh of the BJP wanted to know the police-public ratio in the state but the minister had no information of it.
Referring to the written reply given by the state government, Mr Ambica Choudhury said the government had claimed that the process of registering FIRs was simple and transparent.
“I want to know the meaning of simple and transparent manner of registering FIRs,” he said.
Serious accusations have been levelled against two ministers sitting here by women who dared to stop the chief minister’s convoy in Aligarh but no FIR has yet been registered,” he said.
The minister’s inability to respond to the queries of the Opposition led to acrimonious scenes during question hour as Samajwadi legislators barged into the well of the House and shouted slogans against the government. UP chief minister Mayawati was not present in the House at the time of the incident but senior BSP minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui could be heard saying that the government would not succumb to pressure tactics. The Speaker was finally forced to suspend the remaining period of Question Hour as SP MLAs continued with slogan-shouting.