5 Questions: There is an urgent need to reform the education system and criminal justice system, says Satyapal Singh

The UP government suspended the DM and SSP of Bulandshahr promptly…

There were reports that the victims dialed 100 but no one picked up. The concerned person should be suspended. Don’t suspend the DM and the SSP, how are they responsible for that? This way where will the buck stop? Who is their boss? And who’s the boss’s boss? It will reach the PM. You must go case by case. Also law alone cannot solve the problem. Has capital punishment for rapists stopped rapes…

There is an urgent need to reform the education system and criminal justice system.

The SP-led government is often accused of supporting criminal elements.

That is the general perception. Criminals are at large and police do not make out clinching cases against them. Recently Mulayam Singh Yadav announced there is no police station in the state where a Yadav and a Muslim is not posted. If you are going to deal with policing on the basis of caste, criminals will naturally have a free run.

What should the government and police do now?

We have to take care of the victims. They are traumatised. They should be provided a counsellor. Provide them compensation. The police must immediately arrest all accused and invoke stringent sections of POCSO [Act against child sex abuse] as one of the victims is a minor.

How big an issue is it going to be in the UP elections?

In UP there are so many cases like this… The common man is living in fear of whether police will listen to him. Law and order is the biggest issue in UP elections and the BJP will make an issue of it.