Maharashtra Energy Minister Dr Nitin Raut, who is the chairman of the All India Congress Committee's Scheduled Caste cell, in a memorandum to the Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel has demanded the imposition of the President's rule there because of deteriorating law and order, degrading and humiliating conditions against women and those falling under SC, and the complete breakdown of the constitutional machinery.
Dr Raut has stated that incidents of barbaric and heinous crimes against dalits and women, including rape and murder, have increased many fold in UP since Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has done nothing to avert such incidents. Rather it seemed that the pogrom against dalits, women and minorities was well chalked out as an agenda of the fascist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule in UP.
He said that rapes against dalit women continued unabated even after the Harhras incident. “A few days after the said incident, a minor dalit girl from a village in Barabanki district was raped and strangulated. Her body was found in a paddy field. Post mortem report has confirmed sexual assault. In just four years, the crime against women has increased in UP by over 67 per cent. Daily incidents of rape have developed fear and insecurity amongst women,” he noted.
Dr Raut has blamed the investigating agencies for not timely and scientifically investigating crimes against women and SC people when a huge number of cases are pending for investigation. Apart from the offences of rapes and violence, there were a huge number of incidents wherein the properties of SC people were damaged by miscreants.
He said that, whenever complaints about atrocities were lodged at police stations, no FIRs were registered. They deliberately refused to record the statements of the victims or witnesses and the filing of the chargesheet was deliberately delayed.
